Present Meets Past
by Redwaters
Summary: Through some twist of fate or perhaps just coincidence, the turtles have a chance to meet up with their former owner. Will they take up that chance? What kind of person do you think he is? Will they like who he has become? (Complete)
1. A Discovery Is Made

**Disclaimer:** I am not a product of Ninja Turtles. Oops...I mean, Ninja Turtles are not a product of mine.

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**A Discover Is Made**

It had been months since the Shedder burnt down April's antique shop that use to belong to her father. But with the reward money she had acquired from returning stolen jewels found at an amusement park, she was able to build the shop up and have it running once more.

One day the young red head was bustling about the shop, dusting and straightening the merchandise she had collected, when the phone rang. April hurried over to the counter where the cash register and two phones were. One was a white French style phone with gold trimming around the edge and where the rotary dial was. The other phone, the one that was ringing, was a black cordless.

"Dump On Us!" April said in a warm, welcoming voice. "We'll take everything and anything off your hands for the right price." She couldn't help but roll her eyes when she said this. '_I can't believe I let Casey talk me into saying that._' April thought as she listened to the customer on the other end.

Let us take a step back for a moment, back to when April worked at getting her shop back up into working order. Casey had come to her one day with, what he thought, was a brilliant idea. "Why not start a dumpin' business?" He had been reading about how rare antiques and priceless artifacts were found in yard sales people had and in boxes given to charity or auctions. "Think about it Ape. If we offer ta clean out people's attics and basements, shift through da trash, we might find some treasure fer yer shop."

"I dunno." April said with an uneased look. "Starting a new business is expensive and I already have this shop to take care of."

"Don't worry." Casey said with a laid-back shrug. "I'll do all da labor and you just keep da books." April was still skeptical, but with a lot of prodding and begging she finally agreed to give it a try.

In the beginning, serious doubts started to rise as April looked at the bills piling up in front of her. All were from the new business that didn't seem to fair too well. Before it was even started they were already in the hole by quite a sum of money. Casey had bought an old armor car from a police auction and with the help of the turtles, remodeled it to look like moving van. Ads were placed in newspapers, and a second line with new phone was added to keep the antique business and dumping business separate. Then when the business did start, the few calls that came in brought in meager pickings. A china doll here and new age modern art done by an artist out looking for themselves there, but nothing really worth selling to pay off even the smallest bill.

Soon doubt started turn to regret for April, because it was starting to make her antique shop suffer. The profits coming from that business went into keeping the new business running. But after a couple of weeks, things started to pick up.

Although the dumping business was not bringing in any priceless artifacts or as many antiques one would hope for, it was becoming a huge success. By word of mouth from other satisfied customers, the new phone was ring off the hook with people who wanted to have their homes become clutter-free. Soon all the bills from the new business were paid off and a heavy profit started to come in. In fact, so much work was coming in, there was talk about hiring a second set of hands and another van to keep up with the demands.

What made the dumping business work and so popular, was what April offered with their service. Not only did the business clean out the clutter people wanted to be rid of, but it also took great care of what was to happen to the 'junk'. After Casey brings everything to the shop, April sorted through the stuff and separated it into the appropriate piles. There was a pile for recycling, charity, and rare finds. Anything given to charity and recycling was record for tax deductions; these were passed back to the customer for their records. As for any rare finds, it would be agreed (by a signed wavier) that anything sold, the customer would get half.

Now back to the current situation. April scribbled down the where from the customer she had on the phone. The man on the other end was very adamant about when and how fast they could empty a certain room. "Everything, and I mean _everything_, must go." He told her. "I don't care what you do with it all, but get it out of my house."

"How does tomorrow work for you?" April asked politely.

"No!" The man yelled suddenly. He cleared his throat before continuing. "I want it all gone _today_." He demanded. "I've had this junk taking up important space for far too long."

"But we have other people to take care of first sir." April told him.

"I'll pay double your price to get rid of this junk today." The man said with persistence.

"Double!" April replied with surprise.

"Triple if you can come within the next hour." The man added quickly and with more insistence in his voice.

"Triple…" April's voice trailed off. Something didn't feel right about this. "Sir, for that offer I have to ask what it is we'll be dealing with."

"I rather not say over the phone right now." The man said anxiously. "It's nothing dangerous or illegal, if that's what you're worried about."

April was still skeptical about the whole thing, but she says, "Alright, we'll have someone there within the hour."

"I'll be waiting." The man hung up the phone quickly.

The red head heaved a heavy sigh when Casey entered the 2nd Time Round shop. He was carrying in a large box loaded full of junk. It was one of many he had out in the van from the last place he was just at.

"Yo Ape, what's up?" Casey greeted in his heavy Brooklyn accent voice.

"I told you not to call me that." April growled, casing the black haired man to reply with an idiotic 'uh'. She shook her head in annoyance. "There has been a schedule change."

Casey arched an eyebrow at her. "Eh?"

"Yeah. A guy just called in." April explained. "He wants us to clear out a room ASAP. Willing to pay triple if we do it right away."

"Triple!" Casey exclaimed. "Woo-hoo!" He threw his arms up in the air, causing the box he carried to open up. The contents went up in the air and rains down on him.

"Oh Casey!" April put her hands on her head as she looked at the mess around them. "Haven't I told you to watch the antiques?"

"Oops." Casey's face flashed an embarrassing grin before he dropped to his knees and gathered everything back into the box. "But ya have ta admit, triple our askin' price…"

"That's what worries me." April sighed. "I've got a bad feeling about this job."

"So why didn't ya turn it down?" Casey asked as he stood back up and placed the box on the counter.

"And listen to you complain about turning down a high paying job on the account of having the willies?" April gave him a 'come on' look.

"Guess ya have a point." Casey replied while he rubbed the back of his head.

"Just use caution on this job." April warned. "If this is as fishy as I think it is, leave."

"Ok." Casey nodded before heading outside. "I just have ta finish unloadin' da van before I go." He yelled into the shop.

"Alright." April called back out. Heaving one more sigh, the red haired young woman began dialing up customers to inform them of the change in schedule. She finished just as Casey brought in the last of the boxes. "We're in luck." April told him. "No cancellations. In fact, some of our customers wanted to reschedule anyway."

"Nice." Casey chuckled. "Well, I'm off." He took the slip of paper April wrote the address on.

"Right." April nodded. "Remember to be careful." Casey raised a hand in acknowledgement to her warning as he left the shop.

After watching the van take off, April set to work on the boxes that were brought in. She got part way through the first box before quitting. Through Casey was not worried about this latest job, it didn't mean she couldn't. Time seem to slow to a crawl as April waited for her dark hair business partner to return. She was dying to know what the customer want to get rid of and why.

Barely an hour went by when Casey returned. April didn't even wait for him to bring in anything. She rushed out of the shop into the alley where he parked and threw open the back doors once they were unlock. To her surprise, the van was filled with stuff from a young boy's room.

"I don't get it." The red head muttered.

"Ya had ta be der." Casey sighed. "I've been in awkward positions, but dis was da worse." April looked at him with some confusion on her face. "I pull up ta dis rich lookin' place and da man meets me at da door. He drags me ta dis kid's room and says dump it all. He didn't care if we find anythin' or nothin', he just wanted it all gone."

April had the look of disbelief on her face. "Why?"

"Dunno." Casey shrugged. "So anyway, I start emptyin' da room and half way through dis woman comes runnin' at me. She demanded ta know what I was doin'. Before I could answer, da man gathers her up in his arms and leads her away. Turns out he was her husband. So she starts hit 'em and screamin', (he raises his voice to mimic a woman's) 'Dat's our son's room. Don't get rid of our son's room. It's all I have left.' (he makes his voice normal again) And he's goin', (he lowers his voice to do the man) 'We don't have one, we never had one.' (back to his) Then she's like, 'Don't say dat you bastard. Just cause you hate him doesn't mean…' And he's like, 'Our son is dead in dis house. We'll have no more talk of him. His stuff must go NOW!' Eventually da guy gets his wife out of der and I finish up. It was a pretty easy job too. Everythin' was already in boxes and ready ta go. Dat's why it didn't take me so long ta do it."

"That's harsh." April said as she took one of the boxes from the van.

"Da kid must've done somethin' bad ta get on his old man's bad side." Casey commented as he took another one. The two walked into the shop and placed the boxes by the counter.

"I wonder who the son is." April pondered as she looked at the side of the box. There was no name, just a letter and an age, 'JJ age 11'. She opened it and shifts through the contents. "Would you look at the toys in here." There were action figures, cars, trucks, remote control airplanes, and puzzles.

Casey opened his box and empties it out onto the floor; books scattered all over. "Would ya look at dat?" He laughed as he picked one off the floor. "I haven't read dis book in ages." The dark hair man flipped through the book, skimming it over. In the process, a paper flew out of it and lands at on the scattered books. "Eh?"

April picked up the paper and looks at it. "No way." She gasped while reading it over.

"What?" Casey asked after closing the book.

"You are so not going to believe this." April turned the paper around to show him.

At the top of the page, in big capital letters and written with crayon, was the word 'Missing'. Below the word was a messy drawing of four small turtles; each turtle was colored a different color. There was a purple one, a blue one, a red one, and an orange one. Below the picture was a small blurb written in color pencils.

"Missin', four baby turtles. Names are…" Casey read aloud; those words were in black. "Shellock," this was written in purple, "Shellot," written in blue, "Shellinator," written in red, "and Shellington." written in orange. Casey cocked an eyebrow at this as he read on. "Shellock and Shellot are twins, Shellinator is in da middle, and Shellington is a runt. Please handle him with care cause he tends to get sick. If found, please contact Jeffery Johnson at…" The rest of the message contained a phone number and an address.

"You don't think this could mean our turtles…could it?" April asked him.

Casey scrunched up his nose and rubbed his right temple with the knuckle of his index finger on his right hand. "I dunno…maybe."

"What do you think we should do?" April asked as she took another look at the paper. "Do you think we should tell them we found this?"

"Is dis really a can of worms ya wanna open?" Casey asked. "I mean, what if dis starts somethin'?"

"Well we just can't just throw it away and forget all about it." April declared.

"If ya already made up your mind to tell them, why ask me?" Casey snapped to thin air, cause April was already up and gone.

"Are you coming or not?" The red head bellowed to the dark head.

"Y…yes." Casey scrambled after April. "Hang on." He made it out of the door just before she closed and locked it.

To April's dismay, Casey brought out his bike for them to ride over to the turtles' lair.

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_A/N: Ho-Kay, so here is the first chapter of my first TMNT fan fic. I don't know if this kind of plot has been done before, but if it has then this is my version. I hope to have a steady stream of chapters coming out, it all really depends on what life will throw my way.  
Until then, thanks for reading._


	2. News Always Gets Mix Results

**Disclaimer:** I think we know the drill.**

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**News Always Gets Mixed Results**

Down in the lair every turtle and rat were doing their own thing. Leonardo sat in a chair reading a book, Raphael worked over the latest punching bag he put up, Donatello was in his lab area making a new technological discover, Michelangelo stuffed his face with his favorite snack food in the kitchen, and Master Splinter meditated in his sleeping quarters.

Things were going fine until the elevator doors open to reveal April and Casey, then it was 'Flight of the Bumble Bee' time. Leo and Mike hid all the breakable in the closet, Raph cleared out all the exercising equipment, and Don turned on his anti-Casey security system; it put up an invisible wall that would keep Casey from entering the area. (This was something he had developed after the last time the accident-prone young man barraged into his lab and made a mess of all his potential projects.)

"Geez, break a few objects and everyone freaks out." Casey said in an insulted tone. April could help but laugh.

"So what brings you guys around here?" Donatello asked as he came over to greet the human friends.

April handed the purple bandanna-wearing turtle a paper she had folded up in her pocket. "Um…This."

Donatello took the paper and reads it over; his eyes grow wide with surprise.

"What is it Donny?" Raphael asked as he came over. He gave the paper a quick glance over his brother's shoulder, does a double take, rubs his eyes and takes another look. His lips moved as he read it over carefully.

"You two look like you've seen a ghost." Leonardo teased as he and Mike joined the small group gathered at the door of the elevator. "What is it you're reading?" Don went to hand the paper over to the turtle in the blue bandanna, but it was intercepted in the pass.

"My turn, my turn." Michelangelo chirped. He jogged a distance away from the group, waving the paper above his head in a sort of victory salute. The young turtle let out a happy sigh as he began to read the paper. "No way!" He breathed when he was done.

Leonardo marched over and snatches the paper. "Give me that." He said in an irritated tone. "I don't know what everyone is getting so worked up over." The elder brother read it over once and goes to say something when he decides to read it a second time. Again he went to say something, but stops to read the paper one more time.

"Now look whose talkin' about getting' all worked up." Raphael joshed.

"Shut up Raph, this is serious." Leonardo said sternly. "We should consult Master Splinter on this."

"On what?" Raphael asked. "What is der ta worry about?"

"Yeah Leon," Michelangelo agreed, "it's just a poster some kid made."

"But it has to do with us!" Leonardo exclaimed.

"Not necessarily." Donatello interjected. "Statically speaking, this poster could be about other four turtles that are missing. We shouldn't just up and assume that the whole world revolves around us."

"Did you read the back?" Leonardo asked rhetorically while turning the paper around and pointing to some numbers written there in blue pen. "It's dated on the back of when the turtles went missing. Remember when Master Splinter found us?"

"It could be a coincidence." Donatello shrugged.

"Ok, ok." Raphael put his hands up to attract attention to him. "So da poster could be about us. So what? What do we care?"

"But what if we want to go out looking for this guy…this Jeffery Johnson." Leonardo inquired.

"What in da shell would we want ta do dat fer?" Raphael practically roared. "I don't know about ya, but da last thing I wanna do is go lookin' up some kid dat use ta keep us in a glass bowl."

"I have to agree with Raph on this point." Donatello said while nodding his head. "My faint memories of the kid were not very pleasant." He tilted his head back as he recalled a memory. "I remember being turned upside, then suddenly being dipped into a pool of purple water and being held like that for at least half an hour." The young turtle gave an annoyed grunt. "When his mom found out, I got dunked into soapy water and my shell scrubbed with a rough brush."

Raphael cocked his head to the side as he tried to remember things also. "I think dar was a time when I bit someone's hand in either anger or frustration." He gave a little chuckle. "It's kind of hard ta remember, cause I was flung across da room in the process ta let go and I hit my head." Mike opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off. "Don't even go der." Raph warned.

"I think we were shut up in a shoe box and tucked under a bed for the first couple days out of the pet shop." Leonardo mentioned. "Then we got transferred over to the glass bowl."

Raphael came over to Leo and snatched the papers from him. "Der is one nice piece of information on dis paper I really like."

"And what is that?" Leonardo asked.

"Well, obvious Shellot is you and Shellock is Donny." Raphael pointed out.

"So?" Leonardo said in a 'what of it' tone.

"Shellot and Shellock are twins." Raphael pointed to the blurb under the names. "Meaning that you, Leo, ain't the oldest."

Leonardo crossed his arms in front of him and looks at his red bandanna brother with a bit of a glare. "What's your point?"

"Well if Donny wasn't such an uber geek, he might have been mini Splinter instead of ya." Raphael teased.

Donatello was a in a relaxed stance, but when Raph called him 'uber geek' he straighten right up. "Just what is that suppose to mean?" He demanded while he gave his tormentor a harsh glare.

"Well if the shell fits." Raphael sneered.

"Take that back you…you moron." Donatello shouted as he lunged at Raph.

Raphael stepped to the side, causing his attacker to fly right past him. "Who ya calling a moron?" He pounced on Don's back and pinned one of the fallen turtle's arms behind his shell. "Take it back."

"Not until you take back your insult first." Donatello grunted as he tried to wiggle free.

Leonardo ran over to his two fighting brothers and tried to pull them apart. "Raph, Don, cut it out." He managed to get Raph to let go of Don and off his back.

Donatello pointed an accusing finger at Raph. "Well he started it."

"Well I'm ending." Leonardo said while pushing Raph to the side and pulling Don to his feet.

"Ya ain't the boss of me Leo." Raph snapped. "And yer no longer elder brother."

"Shuddup Raph, you're really pushing your luck here." Leonardo warned.

"Ooo, I'm so scared." Raphael pretended to shake with fright. "Mini Splinter's gonna hurt me."

This time Leonardo lunged at Raph. "I thought I told you not to call me that." He roared when he caught the surprised turtle by the shoulders.

Raph fell on his back and kicks Leo off him. The blue clad turtle flew through the air and lands graceful on his feet. Raph jumped back to his feet and spins around to prepare for his brother's next attack.

"Poor choice Raphie." Donatello said to back of the red clad turtle's back. He jumped at Raph the same time Leo did and the three turtles began to wrestle with each other. While they fought, the poster Leo was holding flew up into the air and landed in the open hands of Mike.

"So what do you remember about your former owner?" April asked, trying to ignore the fight turtles nearby.

Michelangelo looked the poster over more carefully than the first time he had it. "Um…." His eyes moved from word to word and from sentence to sentence. "I…can't remember anything really." He mumbled in a barely auditory voice. The young turtle's eyes lowered as he gave the poster one last glance.

April placed a hand on the young turtle's shoulder. "Are you going to be alright?" The red head asked.

Michelangelo looked up at April and flashes a big grin on his face. "I'll be fine." He said happily while crumbling up the poster. After scanning the room the youth spotted Clunk, his newly found cat, and tosses the paper over to the orange fur ball.

Glad to have a new toy to play with, Clunk hopped over to the paper ball and starts to bat it around a bit. He looked up at his turtle owner to give a mew of thanks for the new toy, when he saw Mike motion towards his room; it was barely noticeable to the people the turtle was talking to. Understanding the implications given to him, Clunk picked up the paper in his teeth and goes to room he shared with Mike.

The main door was closed, but Mike had put in a cat door for when Clunk wanted to go in and out as he pleased. Once through the cat door, the orange cat jumped up on Mike's bed and laid the paper ball on the pillow.

Not able to resist the urge, Clunk batted the ball around a couple more times before he managed to get it to uncurl. The little cat looked the poster over and suddenly realized. '_I can't read_.'

Back outside, the quarreling brothers were finally separated by Master Splinter. "I want to know what started all this." He said sternly.

Leonardo opened his mouth to say something, but Raph clamped his hand on the blue clad turtle's mouth. "Nothing Sensei, just a little rough housin'."

"Really." Master Splinter arched an eyebrow. "I want to hear what Leonardo has to say.

At first Raph hesitated to remove his hand from his brother's mouth, but with a withering glare from his master he reluctantly does so.

"Uh…" Leonardo looked from his master to Raph. The red clad turtle gave a 'don't you dare' look. Leo looked to Don, but the purple clad turtle turned his head away in a 'don't get me involved' kind of way. When Leo looked at Mike, the young turtle just shrugged. What suggestion could he give anyway? "It's just as Raph said Sensei." Leonardo sighed. "We were just messing around."

"I see." Master Splinter said with a barely noticeable nod. He knew his sons were hiding something from him, but he decided not push the subject further at the moment.

Meanwhile the two human friends stood there, stun that the turtles were not going to tell about the 'missing' poster. After a moment or two of reflecting on the matter, they decided that it wasn't their place to make any mention of it either.

Splinter cleared his throat suddenly to kill the silence drifting in the air. "Seeing as it is almost dinner time…" His voice trailed off in a hinting sort of way. The four turtles looked at him with confusion and the elder rat slightly motions towards April and Casey.

Leonardo smacked his head with the palm of his hand. "Oh right." He turned to them to ask, "Would you guys like to stay for dinner?"

April was kind of caught by surprise. "Well…uh…" She answered nervously.

A giant grin came onto Casey's face. "Whatchya havin'?" He asked before licking his lips and rubbed his hands together.

"Pizza of course." Michelangelo laughed. "What else would we be having?"

"Something healthy for a change." Donatello muttered.

Michelangelo ignored the comment of his tech-loving brother. "Tonight is Sloppy Joe pizza night." He declared.

"S…Sloppy Joe?" April asked; she makes a face at the idea.

Casey made no comment. Being the low maintenance bachelor that he was, his eating habits were rather dull. Living on nothing but Top Ramen, Mac 'n Cheese, and Pork 'n Beans left him to welcome any home cooked meal (no matter how strange) he could get.

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_A/N: First off, I guess I should agree that adding colors to the turtles was a bit childish on my part, but can I say? I grew up with the Archie Comics and the 80's cartoon. To tell the truth, it was more for the reader to able to idenify who would have been who for a later chapter.  
- Secondly, as for telling how the owner losing his turtles...that'll come later, don't worry. (Shh!)  
-Thirdly, please forgive my grammer, I'm working on it best I can. But thank you for let me know.  
Thanks for reading, until next time._


	3. What Defines An Elder Brother

**What Defines An Elder Brother?**

Part way through dinner, Leonardo happen to look over in Michelangelo's direction. The orange clad turtle was staring down at his plate; a un-touch piece of pizza lay there. "What's the matter Mikey?" The blue clad turtle asked. He was still trying to perform his older brother duties, even though he knew otherwise.

Michelangelo came out of whatever trance he was in. "Huh?"

Leonardo pointed down at the plate. "There's still a whole piece of pizza in front of you." The elder turtle got up from his place at the table and makes his way to Mike. "You've only had half a pizza." He put a hand on his head and a hand on Mike's. "Are you feeling alright? You don't feel warm."

"I'm fine Leo." Michelangelo said as he brushed brother's hand away. "I just don't feel very hungry at the moment."

"Perhaps all those in between snacking finally caught up with you Mikey." Donatello suggested.

"Maybe." Michelangelo sighed. "If you'll excuse me." He got up from the table and leaves the kitchen for his room. Once inside Mike found Clunk asleep on the poster that laid on his bed. Carefully he picked up the little cat and placed him gently in the small drawer he had turned into a bed.

After making sure Clunk was comfortable, Mike went back over to his own bed and picks up the paper before flopping on his back. He held the poster up in the air above his head.

"Shellot and Shellock are twins." Michelangelo read aloud. '_Don and Leo were always my older bothers, but this means that one or both could be the eldest brother._' He mused. '_I can believe. Would explain a lot._' Mike let his hand fall onto his chest, with the paper lay on his face. '_Don was always there when I need him_.'

As Mike thought about things more, he realized that he was and always will be close to Don. Raph tolerated him to a point and Leo watched over him, but Don was the one who took care of him.

The purple clad turtle was usually the one to defend Mike and stand up for him on occasions when the orange clad turtle wasn't putting his own foot in his mouth. He was always willing to fix Mike's broken toys…and to fix Mike when he hurt himself. Whether Mike was sick or just needed someone to talk to, Don was there for him.

A knocking on the door interrupted Mike's thoughts. "Hey Mikey, can I come in?" Donatello called in.

'_Speaking of the turtle._' Michelangelo thought as he quickly grabbed the paper off his face and stuff it under his pillow. "Sure dude." He called out.

The door opened to reveal Donatello holding a steaming purple mug in one hand and a steaming orange one on his head. "I made some hot chocolate. Thought you might want some." He said as he took the cup off his head, walked into the room, and kicked the door closed with his foot. "I made it just the way you like it. Lots of mini marshmallows, honey, and a third cup of sugar."

Michelangelo jumped down from his bed and kicks stuff out of the way so that there was a place for them to sit. He managed to un-bury a couple of beat up beanbags. "Thanks." He said when he takes the orange cup from the tech-wizard.

"No problem. I figure either the warm milk in it will help you sleep or the amount of sugar would keep you wired so you would have to worry about sleep." Donatello joked. Both turtles took a seat on the beanbags. "I just wanted to see how you were doing. You left the table kind of abruptly."

Michelangelo looked down at his reflection in the brown liquid and ran one of his fingers long the edge of the mug. "This is all…kind of sudden, you know?"

"What? The poster?" Donatello asked before taking a sip from his mug.

"Well…yeah." Michelangelo gave a slight shrug. "I mean, I never really thought about trying to go out and look for the human that took care of us before the ooze and all that."

"We barely lived a year with the kid Mikey." Donatello said. "Besides, you were too young to remember him anyway."

"But I want to remember something." Michelangelo exclaimed as he shot his head up to look at his brother. "At least, what he looked like."

"Why?" Donatello questioned, arching a confused eyebrow at him.

"I dunno…" Michelangelo sighed. "Maybe cause I wanna have what Master Splinter had with his owner."

"What brought this on?" Donatello asked.

Michelangelo rubbed the back of his head. "Again, I dunno." He shrugged. "I was just thinking about Master Splinter all of a sudden. He had an owner and he considered the dude family. Why don't we?" He looked at Don with a plea for some kind of explanation.

"Well…uh…" Donatello was taken back by this strange behavior his young brother displayed; it was weirder than usual. "It could be a factor on many levels Mikey." The purple clad turtle sighed. "Our owner was a kid and treated us more like we were toys than actual beings. We had a short time with him, yielding more not so pleasant memories than pleasant ones." Looking over at Mike, he could see that none of his replies seem to be helping any. Don leaned over and put a hand on the young turtle's shoulder. "Look Mikey…I maybe smart, but even I can't have an answer for everything." He said as he gave the shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"I suppose not." Michelangelo sighed once more. He reached up to the hand that was on his shoulder and squeezes it in return. "Thanks anyway." The young turtle gave a brave, yet weak smile.

Donatello gave the shoulder one more squeeze. "Sure." He got up to leave. "You going to be ok?" Don asked as he looked back down at Mike. "Do you want to come camp out in my room or something?"

"Nah. I'll be fine." Michelangelo said, shaking his head. "Thanks for the offer though." He handed his mug to Don. "And thanks for the drink."

Donatello nodded. "Ok." He took both mugs in one hand and opens the door. Before leaving, Don looked back at Mike one more time just to make sure everything was going to be fine.

Once Don had left the room, Mike climbed back up to his bed and took the poster out from under his pillow. Laying on his back once more, he let the paper rest on his face so he could look at it while he drifting off to sleep.

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_A/N: Yeah, it's kind of a short chapter, but one I thought should be written. I've been watching the new TMNTs and it kind of shows Don being more of the older brother to Mikey.  
By the way, I knew having Don get mad at Raph was kind of farfetched, but I figure it could happen once and a while.  
Thanks for reading, until next time._


	4. It Always Starts With a Dream

**Disclaimer: **I am not a crook. (Gives double peace signs) I did not steal TMNT. Plus I would like to take this time to thank everyone for you encouraging reviews.

**Warning:** Do to the disturbed mind of this writer, things may not be exactly as one would think or want. Also this chapter is longer than others are. Suggestions: Low expectations, open minds, and plenty of time…maybe something to snack on and/or drink would be a good idea too. (You have been advised.)

* * *

**It Always Starts With a Dream**

For the longest time, Michelangelo was caught in Delta sleep. (The phase where you are asleep, but you think you are awake.) While in that phase, he started to get annoyed with the paper on his face. But for some strange reason, he was having trouble knocking it off. Course he did get to the point where he dreamt of being able to move an arm and removes the poster. After taking the same paper off his face for the tenth time, Mike finally hit REM sleep with a drifting thought on his mind. '_Shellington is a runt. Please handle him with care cause he tends to get sick._'

**Dream Sequence**

_Michelangelo was standing in front of a rich looking house that couldn't have more than maybe half a dozen rooms. He feels something on the back of his shell, ushering him into the house and pushing him towards a door with a wooden sign. The words, 'Jeffery's Room' was burnt onto it; along its boarder was a train. The black engine was at the top middle, multiple color cars wrap around, and at the end was a red caboose that was in front the engine._

_The door opens to reveal a familiar looking room; opposite the door was a large walk-in closet. To the right of the door was a large window revealing a spacious backyard. Below the window was a bed with a cream color comforter; a well loved bear in a faded blue coat and crumpled yellow rain hat rest against the lumps where the pillows are. Across from the bed was a large bookshelf full of every comic, educational, fiction, non-fiction, and fantasy book an eleven-year-old could have. Posters of famous sports players, movie stars, and music bands of ever kind line the free spaces of walls and all over the ceiling. Any wall space that could be seen between the posters or objects reveals that they were off-white._

_As Michelangelo gazes about the room, recognizing every piece of it, a boy of eleven years enters. Somewhat tall for his age, he was dress in a private school uniform. The jacket was blue with silver cufflinks, the tie was a black clip on, the gray shorts come to just above his knees, the socks that come up to his calves and shirt were white. His skin was a fair light color and his body lean, not too much fat or too much muscle. The boy's head was a little more oval than round. The eyes were hazel, lips pink, small pug like nose, his hair light brown and bowel cut._

_Michelangelo looked at the young boy, blinked a couple of times, and crossed his arms. He cocked his head to one side while continuing to look at the human who stood in the doorway. "Jeffery…" The young turtle breathed._

_Cradled with care in the arms of Jeffery was a shoebox for men's boots. He rushed over to the side of the bed, slowly lowers to his knees, and gently sets the box down on the floor. After taking the lid off, he peered into the box. "Oh-no." The boy sighed. "He was on top of all of you, how did he get on the bottom between here and Henry's place?" He asked whatever was in the box._

"_Eh?" Michelangelo walked up behind the young boy and looks over his shoulder. In the shoebox were three baby turtles. 'Three?'_

"_Don't worry, I'll get you out." Jeffery reached into the box with two hands and pulls out a turtle (holding them upside down) in each one. "I guess I should give you all names while I'm at it, huh?" He asked, looking from one turtle to the other. The young boy brought both hands up to eye level and twists them around to have a good look at them. _

_When he stopped, the turtle in his right hand moves its head around like it was observe things before focusing on Jeffery and twists it in order to study the young boy with great interest. "I think I'll call you…Shellock, cause you like to observe things like a detective." He placed both turtles on the bed, reached into the draw of a nightstand he had next to his bed and pulled out a little detective hat with an elastic band. Carefully he put the hat on Shellock. "I really don't know what happen to the action figure that use to have this, but you can have it." The young baby turtle shook his head, trying to get it off._

"_Now you…" Jeffery looked at the baby turtle on his left. That turtle stood tall with the look of 'do your worse, I can take it'. "You look kind of regal, so I'll name you Shellot." He explained as he reached into the open drawer of the nightstand. "Seeing as you and Shellock are twins, you should really have similar names." The boy pulled out a mini plastic sword and a rubber band. "I knight you, Sir Shellot." He laughed as he touched one shoulder of the baby turtle with the sword and then the other. Afterwards, he strapped the sword to the shell of Shellot. _

'_So if that's Leo, that's Donnie…' Michelangelo thinks, 'and Raph is in the box, where am I?" He went to look in the box once more, but the back of the young boy blocks the view as he reached into the box with his right hand._

"_Ow!" Jeffery suddenly yanked his hand back with a baby turtle attached to the piece of skin between the index finger and thumb. "Get off, get off, get off." The young boy cried as he shook his hand. "Let go now!" Jeffery grunted while he pulled the baby turtle off his hand. He held the little biter at a distance away in his left hand and studies the turtle for the proper name. With all its strength, the little aggressor first tried to reach his neck out as far as he could in the attempts to try and bite Jeffery's nose. When that proved to be impossible, the little biter tried to twist his neck around to bite the hand that held him. "Unrelenting aren't you?" The young boy asked. "Then I'll name you Shellinator." He placed the little turtle on the bed next to his brothers and Shellinator began to take snips a Shellot._

_At first Shellot just turn his head up in order to waddle away, but when Shellinator managed to bite him on little tail he turned around and snaps at his attacker. From that point the two baby turtles threw attempted bites at each other._

_Michelangelo shook his head. "Even as babies, Raph and Leo never got along."_

_Jeffery carefully picked up Shellinator, making sure none of his fingers was in reach of the little turtle's mouth. "Ok you two, that's enough." He placed the aggressive turtle on the nightstand. "That ought to keep you out of trouble." Jeffery scolded as he reaches into the draw once more and pulls out a little wrestling mask. "This should keep you from biting me and your brothers." He said as he puts the mask on Shellinator._

"_Oh that's really going to piss him off." Michelangelo laughed as he watched Shellinator use both his front feet to try and pull the mask off._

_Jeffery reached into the drawer once more and pulls out a pair of white silk dress gloves. "Are you alright?" He asked while reaching into the box and lifts out a rather small, shaking, sickly looking baby turtle in the palms of his hands. The young boy twisted his hands about to look the small turtle over. "I don't see any injury." He gave a sigh of relief. _

'_So there bwere/b four turtles in that box.' Michelangelo thought as he got down on his knees next to Jeffery. "And that's me." He put his hands on his knees and leans forward to look down over the young boy's shoulder at the fragile turtle. "But I'm small."_

"_Got to be careful." Jeffery told himself as he rose slowly to his feet. "Careful."_

_Michelangelo watched as the young boy went to the end of his bed and climbs onto it. Slowly Jeffery laid himself out on the bed, careful not to drop the turtle carries in his hands or knock over the ones already on the bed. Cautiously, the young boy gently cradled the small turtle in the arms of the teddy bear in front of him._

"_I'll name you Shellington." Jeffery said as he slowly withdrew his hands. "After my favorite bear. It's a little childish to still have it, I know. But I love my bear and I'm going to love you guys just as much." The young boy explained while looking from one turtle to another before placing his elbows on the bed; he put his head in his hands to admire the one in front of him._

_The small turtle seem to stop shaking once it nestled down into the arms of the bear. "I don't care what the pet shop owner says, you are going to live and be as strong as your brothers…maybe even stronger. I'll see to that, I promise." Jeffery pledged._

"_Jeffery?" A woman's voice faintly called out. "Jeffery are you in your room?" Footsteps were heard coming towards the door._

"_Yes mother." Jeffery yelled. "Oh man…" He whispered as he quickly, yet carefully, scurries off the bed. "If she finds you guys before…"_

_For some reason, Michelangelo jumped back as the young boy rushed to the side of the bed and picks up the shoebox from the floor. "Sorry guys, but I gotta put you back." He scooped the two turtles from the bed and places them into the box. "But don't worry. I'll let you back out when mom leaves." Jeffery told them while he grabbed Shellinator (who had finally chewed his way through the mask) and places him in the box. "Don't you fight with Shellot, you hear me?" The young boy ordered before going to collect Shellington, but stops in mid reach when the little turtle began to shake again. "I can't put you back in the box." He said half to himself and half to Shellington. "You're brothers will just climb all over you again. Or worse, Shellinator will…" Using his teeth, Jeffery pulled the silk glove off his right hand and then takes it from his mouth. Lightly the young boy put the glove over Shellington; the young turtle either did not care that the glove is on him or was too tired and weak to do anything about it. "That should work." He said as he tuck the shoebox under his bed._

_Jeffery straightened up just as a woman in her mid thirties appeared at the door. She had lightly tanned skin, was tall and slender. The woman had reddish brown hair that went down to the middle of her back. Her head was oval, eyes were brown, lips wore dark red lipstick, and she had a long slender nose. She wore a light blue silk blouse, black dress pants, and white socks. "Who are you talking to?" His mother asked while looking around the room. _

"_Nobody." Jeffery said innocently. "Um…what do you want?"_

_The woman walked into the room and goes in his closet. "I came to help you pick out what to wear to your father's business dinner tonight."_

"_Not another one." Jeffery groaned. "I'm so sick of those."_

"_Now don't be like that." His mother said while she shifted through his clothes. "This dinner is very important to him."_

"_When isn't a business dinner important?" Jeffery asked rhetorically. "Merger dinners, stock holder dinners, political dinners..." His voice trailed off when his mother popped her head out from his closet to give him an extremely stern look. "size9Not fair./size" He mumbled under his breath._

_Know exactly what he said, his mother replied, "I don't care if it's fair or not, we are obligated to be there and display what the model family is. It's what brings in good business." She pulled her head back into the closet. "A dysfunctional family will cause people to question trust and trust is what needed to build good business relations."_

"_You mean pretend to be what the model family is." Jeffery snorted._

"_And just what is that suppose to mean young man?" His mother asked sternly._

"_We are so far from being the 'model family'." Jeffery replied sarcastically. "Dad works all the time, making you sad most of the time, and on top of all that I can't seem to live up to you guys want from me."_

_His mother came out of the closet carrying a navy blue suit, off-white shirt, and red tie. "Must you exaggerate on everything Jeffery?" She asked rhetorically as she handed the clothes to him and ushers him out the door._

"_Where are we going?" Jeffery questioned while trying to look behind him at his mother. "You picked my clothes."_

"_Because I don't know if they still fit or not." His mother told him as she continued to push him out of the room. "So I need you to put it on and have our tailor look at it for any adjustments."_

"_But…but…" Jeffery protested as he is rounding the door jam. His voice became faint while he is being move further and further away from his room. Suddenly there was a loud shout, "Wait!"_

"_Now what?" The quiet voice of his mother asked in annoyance._

"_I have to…put something away." There is the sound of running feet coming to and past the bedroom door. After a few minutes, the sound of running feet and something dragging are heard as Jeffery comes rushing into his room. A large Lego castle on a piece of cardboard was being pulled behind him by a long piece of yarn._

"_Weren't you supposed to have take that to school for some school project?" His mother yelled. "You made a big deal about having to stay up so late to build that thing?"_

"_That's later mother." Jeffery yelled back. He pull the castle up to the bed, gets down on his knees and brings the shoe box back out. "This ought to be better than the shoe box. At least till I get you guys something better." The young boy emptied the baby turtles into Lego building. "I'll have to get you food and water later, when mom isn't making me so busy." Jeffery got back to his feet and lifts the silk glove to check on Shellington. "I think you'll stay put, won't you?" He tucked the glove around the small little turtle. "See you guys later." The young boy said closing the door and leaving his room again._

_Michelangelo waits a couple of minutes to see if anyone else would enter the room. Why he did this, knowing it was just a dream, he did not know. When he thinks the coast is clear, he moves his way over to the bed to have another look a his former self. '…' Mike reaches a cautious hand out and touches the fragile baby turtle. A tingling sensation is felt all over his body, causing him to close his eyes. When he opens them he found he was no longer seeing his past self, but he did see the bear; in fact he was laying on it._

'_I am me again.' He thought as he realized that his body felt weak and tired. 'I mean I am what I was before the ooze…but why?' Too tired to really think any further, Mike closes his eyes again and goes to sleep._

_

* * *

__When he opens his eyes, Michelangelo finds himself in the silk glove hands of Jeffery and they seem to be move slowly down a hallway._

"_I really hate to do this." Jeffery told him. "But I'd don't know what else to do. I've read all the books on how to care for turtles." They came to two large oak wood doors. Jeffery held Mike to his chest in his right hand so that he could open one of the doors with his left._

_The room they enter was a rather large office; the walls lined with shelves that reached the ceiling. The shelves on the right side of the wall going left are all full of books. In the shelf area to the immediate right of the door was a stereo with a record player on top; two shelves from the floor. On the lower two shelves, the rest of the open shelf space going up to the ceiling, and the shelf to the immediate left of the door were full of records. There was every piece of classical music made by every kind of composer known and music from the fifties, sixties, and seventies. Opposite the door was a large desk with many piles of papers._

_A man in his late thirties was shifting through those papers sitting behind the desk. He had pale white skin and was tall, but a bit on the chunky side. It wasn't that he was fat, more like he didn't get out to exercise much. The man had blonde hair that was cut real short. His head was round, eyes were green, lips were almost as white as his skin, and he had a small pudgy nose. He wore a yellow colored polo shirt, coffee colored slacks, and black sock in leather slip-on slippers._

_Timidly Jeffery went into the room and quietly closes the door. The man must not have notices the young boy entrance, because he made no movement of acknowledgement. "Dad…" The young boy whispered._

"_What is it?" His father grunted._

"_I need your help." Jeffery answered._

"_I'm a busy man, I can't be bother unless it is necessary." His father told him._

"_It's a life or death situation." Jeffery replied._

_The man dropped the papers he held. "What is it?" He asked while jumping up from his chair._

"_It's…" Jeffery held the little turtle he had up for his father to see. Michelangelo could see an angry glare come on to the man's face._

"_What is this?" Jeffery's fathers growled. "You come in and interrupt my important work over nothing."_

"_It isn't nothing." Jeffery shouted. "He and his brothers are my new best friends."_

"_Does your mother know you have this creatures in the house?" The father asked._

_Jeffery gulped. "N…no."_

"_So you thought that you would come and ask me if you could keep them, knowing full well how your mother feels about animals." His father said heatedly. "Do you like pitting us against each other? Do you like watching us fight over the most trivial matter?" He yelled in a rhetorical way._

"_Henry was going to kill them." Jeffery cried; tears started to run down his face. "One…one of his two turtles got pregnant. She laid so many eggs that Henry couldn't keep them all and so his parents told him that he had to find homes for them all within a week or they would get rid of all his turtles." A little snot started to come out of his nose, so Jeffery inhaled deeply to bring it back in. "Hen…Henry managed to give some away and the rest he took down to the pet store. But the storekeeper said that turtles' aren't really big seller this year and that he didn't have enough room or food to feed them all. So the store guy took all but four turtles and Henry couldn't take them back home cause his week was almost up, so he was going to throw them in the trash. But I couldn't let him do that, cause it's not their fault they were born in such a large group. So I took them from Henry and kept them in my room." The more upset Jeffery got, the harder he began to breathe. "So…so I've been caring for them all week, but Shellington isn't getting any better and I don't know what to do. And I thought that if I came to you, you might know what to do." He held the little turtle up even higher for his father to see. "You got to help me dad. I promised Shellington I wasn't going to let him die, he's my favorite."_

_His father was stunned and so was Mike. From the way his brothers talked about Jeffery, he figured the young boy to be this horrible person who tormented and mistreated them. Instead he turned out to be some kid with a big heart and very little knowledge on how to treat turtles._

_At first, Jeffery's father didn't know what to say. "…" It was obvious his child cared deeply for the turtle. But did he really want to waste precious business time on such an insignificant creature, especially one that looked like was only matter of time before it would die. Course if he did not help his son, it would lead to having to deal with him at later time when the creature finally did die._

"_Alright." The father said soothingly. "We'll just have to take him to vet and see what they can do for it."_

"_Ok." Jeffery sniffed. "I'll go get his brothers." Mike felt himself being lowered back to chest level and watched as things went by in a blur when the young boy ran for his room. "I knew dad would have the answer." He almost seemed to laugh. "Just you wait, you'll get better real soon." Breathless Jeffery went into his room, puts Mike on the bed, and reaches under his bed for the shoebox. Then he went over to his Lego castle and collects the other turtles into the box. "Come on guys, time for a check up." After closing the lid of the box he came back to Mike and places the little turtle carefully in the side pocket of his coat. "That ought to keep you safe." Jeffery said as he gave the pocket a pat. The rocking motion of the young boy running back to his father's office put Mike to sleep._

_

* * *

__The next time Michelangelo opens his eyes, he discovers that he was in the top pocket of a suit jacket. Strangely enough, he was feeling a shell of a lot better than before. Jeffery's mother, dressed in a black evening dress, rushing towards him and the young boy. "Must you bring that thing everywhere you going?" She asked intensely._

"_The vet said to give Shellington his medicine every four hours and to make sure he eats vitamin rich turtle food every two if I want him to grow up big and strong." Jeffery explained._

"_But this is a business dinner." His mother sternly told him. "I cannot have you carting that creature around. What if that thing was to get away from you? There are many people that are faint of heart and you know it."_

"_He won't get a way from me." Jeffery promised. "Besides, you wanted me here. If Shellington isn't welcome, than neither am I." He said sternly and adds a justify nod._

_The woman threw her hands up into the air in defeat and asks him rhetorically, "What am I going to do with you young man?" With an angry huff she says, "Fine. But so help me, if I find that turtle is anywhere other than your pocket…." She waved an index finger at him._

"_You won't." Jeffery grunted as he knocked the finger away from him. _

_The woman's face looked like it was slowly coming to a boiling point; steam seem to come out of her nose as she let out a frustrated snort. "You're lucky your father talked me into letting you keep those disgusting creatures. But if you don't watch your mouth…" She snaps her fingers, "Turtle soup, just like that." With that, the woman did an about face and marched away._

"_I really wished she'd make up her mind." Jeffery told Mike while rubbing the turtle's head. "One minute I'm her little boy who makes everything better, the next I'm this brat who's just out to ruin either her chances to stay in the circle of high society or father's business." He looked down at the watch on his right wrist. "Well I made my mandatory hourly appearance." The young boy muttered. "Now I can go back to my room and play with your brothers until the next hour."_

_Jeffery leaves the nosy dinning room that he was in for the quiet hallways that would lead to his room. 'I wonder how big this place really is.' Michelangelo pondered until the young boy went into his room._

_Next to his nightstand sat a large table with the terrarium Mike's brothers now lived in. On the nightstand was a small gift box filled with cotton and a small blanket lay on top of it. Jeffery rushes over the nightstand, places Mike careful in the box, and covers him with the small blanket before plastering his face against the glass of the terrarium._

"_Hey guys, how's it going?" Jeffery asked as he tapped on the glass. "Wanna come out and play?" He reached into the nightstand, pulls out a baby food bottle filled with mushy turtle food, and an eyedropper. "Just after I give Shellington his food." The young boy unscrewed the baby jar, sticks the eyedropper in to the mush, and fills it. He picked up Mike to put the eyedropper into his mouth. "Eat up."_

'_Aaaa. Not so fast.' Michelangelo gagged as the food rush into his mouth. 'I can't swallow that fast.' When the eyedropper was empty, Jeffery put Mike on his bed so he could put away the stuff he had brought out._

"_Ok, time to bring out your brothers." Jeffery said while reaching into the terrarium with two hands and pulls out a turtle in each one. "Hopefully things will go a lot better than last time."_

'_Last time?' Michelangelo panicked. 'What happen last time?' He watched as Jeffery brings over the two turtles he carried. They did not have the accessories given before. 'How does he tell whose who now?' Mike could see the bellies of the turtles before the young boy puts them on the bed, one on the either side of him._

_The turtle on the right had a blue 'S' and the one on the left had a red one. Jeffery turns to the terrarium to bring out the last turtle. While his back was turned, Shellinator (who was the one on the left) head-butts Mike and causes the little turtle to roll over onto his shell._

'_What as that for?' Michelangelo wondered as he tried to roll back over. He looks at his belly to see an orange 'S'. 'So I got one to, eh?' Mike smirked, but he is interrupted by the fact that Shellinator was continuously head-butting him. 'What did I do to deserve this?'_

_Shellot crawls around Mike and over to Shellinator. Once there, he starts pushing the aggressive turtle away from the defenseless one._

_Jeffery turned around in time to see Shellot and Shellinator snapping at each other. "Not again." He sighed as he put the turtle he held down on the bed next to Mike. The shell of this turtle had a light shade of purple._

'_Must have been when Jeffery tried to dye his shell.' Michelangelo thought. It could be assumed that the letter 'S' would be on his belly also and in purple._

_While Jeffery set to work separating the two fighting turtles, Shellock put his head against Mike's shell and proceed to try to turn him back over._

"_If you don't want Shellot to fight with you, you got to stop picking on Shellington." Jeffery scolded Shellinator, who he now held in his hand. "Dad says I shouldn't put human emotions with animals, but I have the feeling that you're jealous of your younger brother." He surmised. "It's not lot like he's getting all the attention just because he my favorite, but because he is sick and need to be taken care of." The young boy set the turtle back down on the bed, but at a distance away from the others and turns his attention back to Mike. Thanks to Shellock, the young turtle was almost back on his feet. Laughing at the sight, the young boy helps him the rest of the way. _

_Then Jeffery lets out a weary yawn while he turns his back to the bed, sits down on the floor and leans against the side of the bed. He reaches up behind him, feels around for Mike, and brings the turtle down to sit on his chest._

"_I wished he would take care of you like your other brothers do." Jeffery stroked the turtle's shell as yawns and closes his eyes._

'_This kid really ain't that bad.' Michelangelo thought. 'I really like him.'_

_

* * *

__A flash of light blinds Michelangelo for a moment before revealing the four of them in a small glass bowl half full of water and going down a street._

"_You've been doing really well Shellington." Jeffery said while passing some kids playing with the water from a spraying fire hydrant. "You must have at least doubled you size and you don't shiver as much. I can't wait to hear what the vet has to say about you." There was a big smile on the young boy's face as he reached an intersection and stops at the red light in front of him. _

_There was a scraping sound coming up from behind them. The boy turned around to see a blind man come up and pass him. "Hey mister, it's a red light." Jeffery called out. But the man must not have heard him, because he did not stop. A truck came speeding down the street, heading for the blind man. "Mister look..." Jeffery yelling was interrupted when another man from nowhere comes running passes him and tackles the blind man, causing both of them to get out of the way of the truck. Even though they were out of the pathway of the truck the driver still panicked and slammed on is breaks while turning his wheel._

_The truck goes sideways, causing the back to open up and a canister with the words TCRI come flying out of it. The canister with glowing green stuff bounces hard off the street into the glass bowl Jeffery has in his hands, shattering it. The baby turtles rain down into the rushing water that was coming from the fire hydrant and float down the street._

"Come back." Jeffery cried as he chased after them. "Don't leave me."

The flow of the water was too fast for the young boy to have kept up and soon the turtles were sucked down an open gutter. Jeffery jumped into the street and reached a frantic hand into the gutter in a vain attempt to get at Michelangelo and his brothers.

The last thing that the youngest turtle saw was Jeffery's tear stricken face and the last thing he heard was, "You guys are my only friends."

**End Of Dream Sequence**

"Jeffery!" Michelangelo cried when he shot up from his bed. He looked around to find he was back in his room and that he also had hands again.

With those hands, he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "Just a dream." Michelangelo muttered. "Course I already knew that." He reached for his clock to see what time it was and mused over whether it was too early to get up or late to go back to sleep. Being the lazy turtle that he was, he decided to lay back down and go back to sleep.

But when he closed his eyes he sees Jeffery's tear stricken face once more and the words _"You guys are my only friends."_

Michelangelo's eyes shoot open again and he sits up once more. He looked down at the poster that now sat in his lap. '_Maybe I should go find him._' The young turtle thought. '_If only to see just how he's doing…and to thank in for what he's done._'

* * *

_A/N: Don't you just hate it when you have a story prefectly laid out in your head, but when you finally sit down to write it out it goes away? I also like to blame the long wait due to the long chapter. (I wanted it to come out just right) Though this chapter is somewhat vital to my story line, I hope it doesn't turn you off to it.  
Also I've been getting a few Q's so I thought I'd proved some A's: 1. Don had the cup on hishead to open Mike's door. 2. I picked up calling Leonardo 'Leon' from the new cartoons and the daily stripes found on the TMNT fansite. Every once and awhile they call him that. 3. As for looking for the owner, soon...maybe next chapter.  
Thanks for reading, until next time._


	5. Searching

**Searching**

It would be a couple hours before anyone would be up, so Michelangelo spent the time wondering whom he could con into helping him find Jeffery. Raphael was against it and though Leonardo had suggested it, it didn't mean he really wanted to. So that meant just one turtle was left.

"Donnie…" The young turtle muttered with a smirk plastered on his face. "There is no way he would say no to me. Not that I would let him anyway."

When it finally came time for everyone to get up, the orange clad turtle dashed out of his room and into kitchen. The clatter of cooking supplies rang throughout the lair. Wiping the sleep out of their eyes, the others enter the kitchen to find Mike in a frenzy of different jobs. He cracked eggs into a large mixing bowel, diced vegetables, chopped potatoes into thin strips, and cut oranges into slices.

"What's for breakfast, oh Iron Chef?" Donatello teased.

"Vegetables omelets, hash browns, and orange slices." Michelangelo replied politely while he mixed the vegetables in with the eggs. Then he dumped a large glob onto a greasy hot pan. "You like cheese with your omelet, right Don-san?"

"Don-san?" Donatello was caught off guard. "I don't think I've ever called that before, especially by you."

"Sure you have…I mean…at least I think _I've_ called you that before." Michelangelo mused while he sprinkled shredded cheese over the large omelet. "Well it shouldn't really matter as long as you don't mind being called it." He looked over at Don for approval.

"Of…of course not." Donatello furrowed his eyebrows in order to study his younger brother. "It's just strange hearing it come from you." He added while taking a seat at the table. The other turtles did the same.

"Voila." Michelangelo said with a fake French accent when he placed a plate in front of Don. There was a large omelet smothered in cheese, a whole orange in slices, and a heaping helping of crispy hash browns on it.

Looking over at Don's plate, Leonardo wiped the slobber of drooling coming down from the corner of his mouth. "Wow Mikey, that looks great." He rubbed his hands together as he waited for his and Raph's breakfast.

On the plates Mike placed in front each of them was an omelet half the size of Don's with no cheese, a small portion of hash browns, and half an orange in slices. Leo looked down at his plate with disappointment.

"What's up with dis?" Raphael demanded.

Michelangelo sat down with a plate of his own with the same small portions his red and blue brother had. "What's the matter?" He asked.

"Donnie got more than we did." Leonardo complained.

"So." Michelangelo shrugged.

"Ok Mikey, out with it." Donatello said after swallowing a mouthful of omelet.

Michelangelo looked at his tech-loving brother with big, wide, innocent eyes. "Whatever do you mean Don-san?"

Donatello winced at the way his youngest brother looked at him. "When you want something, you become very generous."

"Well you don't have to worry." Michelangelo patted his brother on the shoulder. "I'm not looking for anything from you Don-san."

"Stop calling me that."

"But I thought you didn't mind."

"Well I changed my mind. You're starting to creep me out."

"No problem, I understand." Michelangelo replied then went on to eat his breakfast. Don ate his with great enjoyment while Leo and Raph ate theirs enviously.

When breakfast was done, Don got up from the table because it was his turn to do the dishes. But before he could get to a single dish, Michelangelo ushered the purple clad turtle out of the kitchen. "Don't worry, I got it." He told his brother. At first Don stood stunned in the doorway, but when Mike waved him away he shrugged shoulders and went to his lab.

**That Afternoon**

Michelangelo hid behind one of the pillars that was in front of Donatello's lab and shyly peered around it to see how busy his tech-brother was, but hoped he wasn't. Quietly he tiptoed in to find Don hunched over his computer, focused on surfing the Internet for sound wavs.

"Whatcha doing?" Michelangelo whispered into his brother's ear.

"What the shell!" Donatello jumped straight out of his chair. "Haven't I told you never to sneak up on me when I'm doing something?" He snapped.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you."

"So what do you want?"

Michelangelo put his hands behind his shell and rocked on the balls of his feet. "Nothing." He sang sweetly.

Donatello rolled his eyes. "Uh huh." He went back to work while Mike looked over his shoulder. Course the longer his younger brother stood behind him, the more annoyed Don got. "Are you _sure_ you don't want something?" He asked irritably.

Michelangelo stop rocking. "Am I bothering you Don-san?"

"As a matter of fact…"

"So what are you doing?"

Donatello heaved a heavy sigh. "Making an alarm system to alert us when Casey comes."

"Fascinating."

"Really?"

"Uh…no."

"Will you go away?" Donatello asked sternly as he turned around and waved both hands at Mike in a 'shooing' motion.

"Yes sir Don-san." Michelangelo saluted before he hopped out of the lab.

"And stop calling me that!"

**Ten minutes later…**

"Donnie, are you busy?" Michelangelo's voice sang into the lab.

Donatello smacked his face with his hand, dragged his fingers down it to his chin, and drummed them there. What Mike's question really translated to was, 'Drop whatever you're doing and do something for me or I'm going to keep bugging you till you do.' With his temper in check, Don asks through grit teeth, "What do you want Mikey?"

"Well if that's the mood you're in, I guess I'll come back later." Michelangelo pouted. That translated to, 'I'll come back to bother you in another ten minutes.'

Donatello reached out and grabbed his orange clad sibling by the belt just as the young turtle was about to leave. "No!" He cried. "Look, I know you were bribing me to do something, so just come out and tell me." Mike turned around to face his brother with a paper rolled up in his hands like he griped a baseball bat and his face that had the guilt of a child who just broke a window with the ball. Don raised an eyebrow. "Is that…?"

"Uh-huh."

"I thought we got rid of that yesterday."

"Well I kept it, ok?" Michelangelo snapped

"Whoa, chill out." Donatello put his hands up to show he meant no harm. "What's this all about now?"

Michelangelo fidgeted with the paper in his hands. "I…uh…had a dream last night. But it's more than a dream, it was…like…memories."

Donatello put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. "Memories…" He gave Mike a look.

"Don't look at me like I'm crazy." Michelangelo barked. "I don't know how to explain it, but I know that what I dreamt really happen."

"Alright, so you dreamed up a bunch of memories." With he's hands still behind his head, Donatello shrugged his shoulders. "What is it you want me to do about it?"

"I want you to help me find our owner."

Donatello nearly fell out of his chair. "You want me to what!" He jumped out of his chair to look Mike in the face. "Are you nuts?"

Michelangelo pushed Don's face out of his. "If anyone could help me find Jeffery, it's you."

"So give me a good reason and maybe I'll think about helping you."

"We owe him our lives."

"Exsqueeze me!" Donatello wrung out his ears out with his small fingers. "I think I miss heard you, did you just say _we_ owe him _our_ lives?" Mike nodded. "What the shell gave you that idea?"

"My dream." Michelangelo said timidly.

Donatello rolled his eyes. "Your dream." He threw his hands up while he turned his back on his younger brother.

"Yes, my dream." Michelangelo retorted. "In my dream Jeffery saved us from being dumped in some land fill out there." He told Don. "He also took take care of me when I was small and sick. I almost died, but Jeffery worked hard to make sure that I would live to grow up and become strong." Mike grabbed Don's shoulder and turned him around. "Now I wanna to go out and see how he's doing. I wanna to thank him for what he's done for me, for us. I wanna meet him face to face." At this point the young turtle was practically yelling at his elder brother.

"Ok, ok." Donatello said soothingly when he saw the apprehensive look in Mike's eyes. He put his hands on his younger brother's shoulder. "I'll help you, but do you really think it's going to be easy to find one kid in a country of, like, billions?" Don pointed a finger towards the ground. "And that's if he's still in this country." He took his other hand off Mike's shoulder and shrugged. "For all we know, he could be somewhere on the other side of the world."

Michelangelo looked down as he pressed his middle fingers together to make an arch. "I suppose." He mumbled.

Donatello gave a deep sigh as he plops down into his chair and spins around to face his computer. "Let's see what I can do." He cracked every one of his knuckles and his neck before placing his fingers on the keyboard like a pianist ready to play a difficult piece of music.

Michelangelo leaned over Don's shoulder to watch. "Where are you going to start first?"

"Birth records." Donatello replied. "If we get his birth certificate, we can find out who his parents are and work our way from there." He did some calculations. "Let's see…he was eleven years old when he got us and that was about fifteen years ago, so that would make him born in the year…. O-k, here's one, Jeffery Johnson born to Steward and Mary Johnson." Don looked back at Mike. "Either of those names sounds familiar?"

"His parents' names weren't mentioned." Michelangelo answered. Then he snapped his fingers. "But his dad is an important business man."

"Ok…" Donatello tapped his chin with his finger. "So he would have to be in the news at one point or another. This just requires hacking into news archives and seeing what we get. Maybe we could get some pictures." He started typing again. "Starting with the year Jeffery was born and…here we go." Don clicked the mouse and a newspaper article appears on the monitor.

"_Today is a big day at the Johnson home._" The article read. "_Elijah, one of the top Fortunate 500, and his wife Sarah welcome a new addition to the family. A healthy bouncing baby boy they have named Jeffery. He was born in…_" It went on to talk about the specifics of the birth. Don scrolled down the article till they hit a picture.

"That's them." Michelangelo squealed as he pointed at the picture of a woman sitting in a hospital bed, holding small bundle in her arms. A man is to the right of her with his left arm behind her neck and his right resting on her shoulder. "That's the man and women I saw in my dream."

"Ok, ok." Donatello had to ring out his ear due to Mike's yelling in it. "If there is stuff on dad, there has to be stuff on Jeffery too. So now that we have a starting point, let's see where this paper trail takes us." He cracked his knuckles once more before typing away. "We'll just call up everything that has to do with Jeffery Johnson…son of Elijah Johnson…between the years of…to…" He hit the enter key and the screen flooded with newspaper articles.

One headline said. "_Johnson Holds Giant Celebration Dinner._" The article read, "_Congratulations are in order for Elijah Johnson, one of New York's highest money making business men. Not only was his latest business adventuring a success, but he also welcomes home his new son. When asked about how he felt, Johnson replied, 'Only good things could come from this event.' It is unknown whether he was talking about his new son or his business._"

Another title said, "_Entrepreneur Johnson Show Concern For Family._" The article read, "_Yet another business had been added to the long chain of mergers that Elijah Johnson has acquired. Using the new addition to his family, Johnson managed to out do his competition. 'Family is the key to everything.' He was quoted saying. 'What is the best way to judge a man's integrity? Look at his family. A dysfunctional family will cause consumers and stockholders to question the trust they put into a business.' _"

There was an editorial written when Jeffery was to be eleven years of age. "_The Johnson house is always celebrating new businesses, new partners, and mergers with elaborate dinners. When attending dinners like these, one is sure to see the Johnson family having a small cherishing moment upon the hour, ever hour. When asked at one of these dinners, what his views are, son Jeffery (show in picture below with father and pet turtle) says, 'Family is everything to a business, cause it reflects how it's run. If the family is run poorly than it must mean that the business is too.' His father adds, 'That's my boy. Showing that he's the true heir to my business. I know that when I pass on, my people will be well taken care of.' Personally both quotes seem a bit rehearsed, a little too rehearsed._"

The picture mentioned in the article showed Jeffery holding a small baby turtle in the palm of his hand. Behind him, with a hand on the boy's shoulder, stood Elijah. Both father and son had the look like they were forcing on a smile, but it could be told that they were actually hiding their discontent, probably for each other.

Don skipped a few more years to another editorial. "_Elijah Johnson, one of the top Fortunate 500, has decided to stop preaching about how family life is the reflection of business. This probably due to the fact that he had to bail his seventeen-year-old son, Jeffery Johnson, out of jail for the fifth time this week. The young Johnson was arrested for setting fire to a trashcan in the boys' room at his private school. This had been one of many, many misdemeanors Jeffery Johnson has committed since he has hit teenage-hood. According to behavior specialist, Dr., 'The young lad is crying out for attention. It is not unheard of for adolescents of rich family to defy authorities, so long as the end result is getting such things as a father's notice.' _"

At the bottom of the screen was a link to a news sound bite. "_As of today, eighteen-year-old Jeffery Johnson has run away from home._" A newscaster's voice said."_Authorities have been called, but are unable to locate where he might be. No reward money has been posted as of yet and there doesn't look like there will be if father, Elijah Johnson, has anything to say about it. Wife and mother, Sarah, does plea for the help of any and every person to help find her son._"

Donatello's mouth twitched nervously. "O-k now." He wasn't too eager to find his former owner before and nothing cries out for him jump up now. "Whelp, we found out how Jeffery's been doing. Not to well by the looks of things." Don turned around to look at Mike with the hope that all this might dampen the orange-bandanna wearing turtle's enthusiasm to continue the search.

"But nothing tells us anything about where he is now." Michelangelo complained. "All we got was his home life. What about where he is now?"

Donatello blew a breath of air out of the corner of his mouth in frustration. "For all we know, he could be locked up in the jail or something. You read the last article and heard that news broadcast, Jeffery was a regular trouble maker."

"So."

"Alright. Since he's committed a bunch of stuff, I'll just call up his rap sheet. Maybe that will convince you to drop this search." Donatello hacked into police records. His and Mike's eyes grew wide at the list of misdemeanors and crimes Jeffery had.

The sheet went as far back as to when Jeffery was thirteen. There were charges going from pick pocketing to armed robbery. There were charges for possession, handling, and dealing in illegal drugs of every kind known. Plus it was known that he was actually doing drugs, because he had been arrested a couple times in a hospital pending his stomach getting pumped.

"Please, please, _please_ tell me that this changes your mind." Donatello pleaded. But Mike shook his head; he was still determined to find their former owner. So Don clicked on a link that showed mug shots with the hope that it would make a stronger point.

The shots were like a timeline of Jeffery through the years, it started at thirteen and ended at twenty-five. His hair length changes from being short, to being almost none, then to being long and bushy. Also with each picture, a new hole seemed to have appeared in his face. It started with an earring on the right ear, to another one, and another. Then a nose ring, a brow ring, four more on his left ear, one in his chin, and possibly one in his tongue.

But it was the mug shot of Jeffery when he was nineteen that got Don's attention the most. In it the young man had a stitched up gash on his right cheek that went from his chin, diagonally up to near the top of his right ear. Course that's not what he was worried about. What he was worried about was the purple dragon tattoo Jeffery had. The tattoo started below where the neck met the chest and went over the left shoulder.

"Ok, that's it." Donatello announced after he closed down the windows. "There is no way in the world you are going to go out and look for this guy?"

"Why not?" Michelangelo complained.

"Hello?" Donatello knocked on Mike's head. "You read the rap sheet, you saw the pictures, and yet you still want to go out to look for this guy."

"He had a bad home life, you can't blame him for that." Michelangelo protested.

"He's a Purple Dragon!" Donatello yelled. "And let us not forget the robbery or the drug taking and dealing."

"All the more reason that we should go out and find him." Michelangelo declared. "You know how easy it is to get caught up in something like that, especially when you don't have a home to go to. What about Angel? We stopped her from joining and set her straight."

"We stopped her from joining." Donatello reiterated. "Jeffery is already one of them. We can't just go marching up into the Purple Dragon's hideout and pull him out of there."

"Oh yeah? Well...Jeffery would be twenty-six this year, right? Well I didn't see anything about him being arrested this year for anything. So maybe he quit." Michelangelo tried to sound convincing.

"Or he has been arrested yet." Donatello pointed out.

A glare came over Michelangelo's face. "Well I'm not giving up on him. So now you can either go up top with me and help me find him, or you can just sit here on your shell and do nothing." He snarled before he stormed out.

Donatello jumped up from his chair. "Mikey!" He called from the entrance of his lab.

"I'll be leaving in half an hour." Michelangelo yelled as he headed for his room. "Come or don't come, I don't care at this point." With that, he entered his room and slammed the door shut.

Leonardo poked he head out of the dojo entrance he and Raphael were in. "What was that all about?" He called out to Don.

"Nothing." Donatello muttered. "Nothing."

* * *

_A/N: Finally got the next chapter up (yay). Bet you didn't expect me to make Jeffery such a bad kid, did ya? Did ya?  
Ok, so I said in the last chapter they would find Jeffery. Technically they did...(heh?)  
Alright, alright. I wanted it to be this chapter, but if I did it would be longer than I wanted too be. So next chapter, promise.  
Thanks for reading, until next time._


	6. He's Not Heavy He's My Owner

**Disclaimer:** As you can see, I've take a song that isn't mine and changed a word in it. Silly little pun, isn't it?

* * *

**He's Not Heavy He's My Owner**

The stars began to come out in the night sky while a cool breeze blew across the faces of two shadowed figures on the top of a water tower. One stood in a heroic pose at the very top and the other squatted next to him, leaning on a staff. The squatter heaved an embarrassing sigh. "I can't believe you talked me into this Mikey." On his head was a light gray fedora with a black band and the sides of his open trench coat waved with the wind.

"You didn't have to come you know Donny." The poser replied irritably, his red cape waved in the wind. "And the name is Turtle Titan." A black circle with the letters 'TT' held the ends of his cape, an orange cowl covered the top half of his head, a small turtle shell looking shield was on his right arm, and he wore leather calf-high boots.

"Turtle Titan." Donatello made a raspberry sound.

"You're just mad cause you're the sidekick." Michelangelo mocked.

Donatello shot up from his squatting position. "Well I don't see why I have to go around being called Shellock, but you don't go around being called Shellington."

"No superhero would be caught dead with the name Shellington. Besides, everyone already knows me as Turtle Titan. It's all elementary."

"You _are_ elementary."

"Why don't you just go home?"

Donatello jumped down from the water tower. "Alright, I will." He started to walk away.

"Good, cause that will make things a whole lot easier for me." Michelangelo yelled to the back shell of his brother. "Now I can just walk into the center of the Purple Dragon hideout and demand the information I need."

Donatello stopped and spun around. "Even you are not that stupid." He countered as he looked up at the ridiculously dressed brother of his.

Michelangelo put his hands behind his back and rocked on his feet. "Maybe I will and maybe I won't." He sang.

Donatello looked shocked. "If you do, I'll tell Master Splinter and the others."

Michelangelo stopped rocking in order to squat down, his elbows rested on his knees. "Sure you will dude." He laughed.

Donatello glared up at his brother. "And just what is that suppose to mean?"

"If you were _really_ going to tell anyone, you would have done it the minute we found out anything." Michelangelo answered. "That way you would have help stopping me from going in the first place." He jumped down in front of his brother, folds his arms in front of his chest, and cocks his head to one side. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

Donatello chewed on his lower lip and with the hand that wasn't holding his staff, starts to mess around with a belt end on his trench coat before giving an answer. "Cause I'd lose your trust if I did." He stopped messing with the belt in order to place a hand on his brother's shoulder. "I know how you operate Mikey. Once you have your mind on something, there no stopping you. One way or another, you're going to sneak out of the house to look for this guy and probably get yourself kill in the process." Don looked at Mike with caring eyes. "So the only way to make sure you stay out of trouble is to go with you, but I can't do that if you don't trust me."

"Aw. My big brwother is worried about wittle old me." Michelangelo teased in a mock baby voice.

Donatello pulled his hand back with a nauseating look on his face. "Boy do you know how to ruin a brotherly moment." He snorted before he flicked Mike in the forehead. With the use of his Bo staff, Don pole-vaulted onto the next building. "Let's get a move on Mikey." He called back after he landed on the roof.

"I told you," Michelangelo yells while jumping after his brother, "the name is Turtle Titan!"

**Sometime Later**

The two turtles had found a group of ten Purple Dragon members and after a good fight, three were left to question. "Alright punk, we want answers." Michelangelo said as he slammed one up against a brick wall. The PD's head was shaved clean save for some dark purple hair that came from the middle of his head and was combed over like long bangs. "Tell me if you seen this guy before." Mike shoved a printed mug shot of twenty-five year old Jeffery in the guy's face. "Come on tell me what I want to know."

"Give the guy time to answer…" Donatello told Mike before adding with some reluctance, "Turtle Titan." He held the other two PDs under each of his arms in a headlock. The one under his left arm had a light purple Mohawk and the one under his right arm had long blonde hair with purple streaks.

"Fine." Michelangelo grudgingly replied as he pulled the mug shot from the guy's face. "So do you know the guy?"

"Up yours, you costumed freak." The PD spat.

Michelangelo tucked the picture into his belt. "I'm sorry," he flicked the guy's nose, "I didn't quite hear you." Grabbed the nose between his middle finger and thumb. "Did you just say you weren't going to help us?" Twists it. "Or did you say you were?" And then lifts it into the air.

"Cut it out." The interrogatee yelled as he tried to pull his nose free. "Nook, I don't no da kid. Alright? I'm new to the groop. Honest."

Miffed that the guy knew nothing, Michelangelo lets go of his nose and throws him into a nearby dumpster. "Make yourself comfortable dude." He said as he latched the hood.

Donatello tightened his arms around the two PDs he had. "Well what about you guys?" Both put their hands up to try and pull their heads free. "The guy's name is Jeffery and he's twenty-six years old." He told them. "As far as we know, he used to run with you guys up until a year ago."

"Never heard of the guy." The Mohawk PD gasped.

"What's he look like?" The longhaired choked. "I mean you have a pic right? Show it to us." Mike shoved the mug shot into the guy's face. "Ok, ok. Blade and I know the kid, alright?" Don loosened his arm around the longhaired.

"What are you blabbing about Knives?" The Mohawk guy asked.

"Show the shot to him." Knives told Mike. Mike grabbed Blade by the collar and slams him against the wall before shoving the picture in his face. "You remember that kid now dontcha?"

"Yeah, yeah." Blade nodded. "He was known around as the Holey Pincushion."

"The what?" Donatello asked.

"Holey Pincushion." Blades replied. "See…he's called Holey cause of all them holes in his face, especially that one big ol' gash he had when he joined the group. Got that from the initiation."

"And he's called Pincushion cause he got about as many needle marks in him as…well…a pincushion." Knives added. "The kid was as high as a kite almost all the time, when he wasn't drunk or paranoid.

"But the guy had some kind of episode or something and skipped out of the gang." Blade informed them. "He hasn't been seen since."

"Is that's all you got?" Donatello asked and both PDs nodded. "Then I guess there is no more we need from you." He grabbed Knives's shirtfront while removing his arm from around the guy's neck and lifts him into the air. Mike unlatched the dumpster lid he had latched earlier so Don could dumped his guy in, then Mike tossed his in and re-latched the lid. After they alerted the police about the captured Purple Dragons, they returned to the rooftops.

"Now what Shellock?" Michelangelo asked. "Rehab centers?"

"I've checked all the rehab centers before we left. There hasn't been anyone fitting his description entered."

"But if he's out on the streets, that would make him homeless. How are we going to find him among the many that New York has?"

Donatello pushed the back of the fedora up so the front went over his eyes while he thought. "Hmmm…" Close to having a light bulb go on over his head, Don shoved the front of the fedora so it was back on top of his head again. "I got it. There's that new island out in the harbor for homeless people to go to live on now. You remember the place dontcha?"

"Yeah." Michelangelo nodded earnestly, but then stopped to shake it. "…uh…no."

Donatello rolled his eyes. "I should have known." He sighed. "It used to be run by the Garbage man. You know, the big slobbery dude who went out and kidnapped homeless so he could force them to work in his trash empire."

"Oh, yeah. But why would we going out there?"

"A lot of homeless have moved out to the island. There is a chance that someone might have some information on the whereabouts of Jeffery."

"Brilliant." Michelangelo cried. "Way to go Shellock." He whapped Don on the shell.

"It's nothing." Donatello shrugged. "But could we stop playing this game now?"

"But this isn't playing." Michelangelo whined. "We're superheroes. We're suppose to wear costumes to hide our secret identity and have superhero names and…"

"Alright, alright." Donatello threw his hands up. "Let's go get the Sewer Sub………Turtle Titan."

"Good idea Shellock." Michelangelo struck a heroic pose. "Back to the lair."

"Whatever…"

**At Homeless Island**

The Sewer Sub surfaced and parks at the docks of the island that sat out in the middle of the harbor bay. People gather around to see who was coming to either visit or invade their homes. All were relieve when the top of the sub open to reveal the heads of Don and Mike.

"Ah Donatello, Michelangelo. Welcome to our humble island." A large black man wearing an African hat, a dark brown coat, dark slacks, and a gray scarf came to greet the two young turtles with open arms.

Michelangelo jumped out of the sub first. "It's nice to see you too Professor." He greeted as he went over to the man. "But the name's not Michelangelo."

The elder man look confused. "I'm sorry?"

"Ignore him Professor." Donatello got out of the sub and joined the two. "It's just Mikey being Mikey."

Michelangelo ignored his brother's comment. "I'm Turtle Titan and Donnie is Shellock."

"I thought superheroes are not supposed to reveal their secret identity."

"Well it's kind of hard to keep a secret identity when someone goes around use someone else's real name."

"Boys, boys." Professor put his hands up to stop the two bickering turtles. "May I be so bold as to ask why you have come?"

"It's like this Professor, we're looking for a guy who either looks or use to look like this." Donatello handed the printed mug shot to the man. "His name is Jeffery and he's about twenty-six now."

"Allow me to take a look." Professor studied the picture closely. "I must say this young man does look familiar."

Michelangelo's face lit up. "Really!"

"Hm…" Professor rubbed his chin with his free hand as he continued to look at the picture. "A bit…yes. I've seen a man with a scar like this one." He pointed to the mark on Jeffery's cheek. "But his hair isn't as long nor does he have any piercings."

"Can we meet him?" Michelangelo asked eagerly.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea." Professor rubbed the back of his head nervously. "It seems the young man…has problems."

"What do you mean Professor?" Donatello asked.

"Ever since he came to this island, others have kept their distances from him." Professor explained. "He seems…unstable."

"Please Professor, just show him to us." Michelangelo pleaded.

"Ok." Professor nodded with a sigh. "He is in our infirmary." He led Don and Mike into the island.

"Wow..." The two turtles breathed as they look around.

The island didn't look like the dumping site it once was, but of course it didn't look like the ritziest place either. Homes and buildings were shabbily built from trash that was collected from the city.

"We work with what we can." Professor explained. "Our biggest business here is the dumping business we were once forced to run. The only difference now, besides doing it of our own free will, is that it's a legitimate business now. We tend to get a bit of money for recycling most of what we get, so it pays for food and any medical emergencies." They come to a building that looked like a free clinic. "At least three times a week we get some doctors and nurses who volunteer their time to give checkups and vaccines."

"Hello Professor." A young woman, sitting behind a scratched up desk, greeted as the small group as they enter the building; in her hands was a medical book.

"Good evening." Professor greeted back. "Another lucky break we've had is that sometimes books get dumped in with the trash." He explained to the turtles. "Some of the residences here are studying to do different jobs that will be needed to be done. Things such as medical care and mechanical maintenance."

"It's all so amazing what you all have managed to accomplish." Donatello chuckled.

"What are you going to do here today sir?" The young woman asked while she put her book down and stood up. "Going to give another lecture or have you come up with another theory to share."

"Today I wish to visit that newcomer who was admitted here." Professor told her. "My young friends here think they know who he might possibly be."

The woman put the tip of her index finger in her mouth and bites down on its nail. "Sorry Professor, but he isn't here anymore."

Professor raised an eyebrow. "Not here anymore." He said with surprise. "Do you know where he might have gone?"

The woman took her finger out of her mouth. "Central Park possibly." She said with a shrug of her shoulders. "When he ran out of here he was muttering something about not being able to score anything here, but he might be able to there."

"Score?" Professor had a confused look on his face when he looked at Don and Mike.

"Don't worry Professor, we know what it means." Donatello assured the elder man. "Thanks for your help."

"Yeah, thanks a lot Professor." Michelangelo exclaimed as he ran out of the infirmary to the Sewer Sub.

"Mikey, wait for me." Donatello cried while he chased after.

**In Central Park**

Donatello walked down one path in the park while Michelangelo walked another on the opposite side. "It's getting late Mikey." Don complained in to the microphone of his Shell Cell headphones. "Can we wrap this up and go home now? I mean, you couldn't really expect to find the guy in just one night."

"But we're so close." Michelangelo whined back through his headphones.

"Central Park is huge. We don't know where addicts go to get what they need."

"With the two of us working both side of the park, we should find something that would lead us somewhere."

"You are either way too optimistic or way to naïve. Bet you don't know which one I'm bending to."

"Alright, alright." Michelangelo sighed. "After we go through the park a couple dozen times we can call it a night."

"Mikey!" Donatello growled.

"Fine." Michelangelo snorted. "Five passes." Don let out a long groan. "Ok, three. But that's my final offer."

"You're not offering me anything." Donatello retorted. "You've conned me into this."

"Conned you nothing, I asked for your help. You didn't have to come out if yoooou…whoa!" There was a loud 'womp' as Michelangelo fell flat on his chest.

"Mikey!" Donatello called out anxiously. "Mikey, are you alright?"

"Yeah…oi." Michelangelo groaned. "I just tripped over something that stuck out onto the path." He got up on his feet and dusts himself off. "I'm going to check out what it was." With his foot like a detector to feel out what he tripped over, Mike traced his last few steps back and eventually his toes hit something. "I think it was a tree root, but it felt too squishy to be one." He crouched down to touch the object with his hands. "In fact…I think…no I'm sure of it, I found a leg."

"I hope it's attached to a body." Donatello replied.

"I hope so too. But I'm kind of afraid to found out." Michelangelo whimpered.

"Then I'll find out for myself." Donatello sighed as he came up behind Mike.

"Yikes!" Michelangelo shot straight up from his crouching position and nearly clipped Don in the chin with his head. He whipped around to look at his brother. "How did you get here so fast?"

"I know a couple short cuts." Donatello answered with a 'ho-hum' tone in his voice. He brought out a flashlight from one of his trench coat pockets and turns it on. "Let's see what we got here." Don followed the leg up until it hit a body; the head was under a bush so a face couldn't be seen. Whoever it was, they were dressed in torn clothes that were at least worn five time previously.

Michelangelo cowered a bit behind Don. "Is he dead?" He asked.

Donatello gave a small laugh. "I thought superheroes were suppose to be brave." He teased as he brought out his staff and poked the body, but nothing happened.

"Oh yeah? Well…I don't like dead things." Michelangelo answered angrily. "Ok?"

"Whatever." Donatello poked the body again. This time there was low, painful groan.

"Aaahhh!" Michelangelo jumped onto Don's back with fright.

"Will you get a hold of yourself?" Donatello huffed while he pried Mike of him. "Here, make yourself useful will ya?" He shoved the flashlight into Mike's hands so he could kneel down and put a hand on the body to check the person's breathing. "At least he isn't dead."

Michelangelo ran the flashlight up and down the body. "So what do we do now?" He asked.

"Whoever this guy is, he's in bad shape." Donatello observed. "The best we can do for him is to take him to the hospital." When he grabbed the guy's collar and lifted the upper body, the head comes out from under the bush to show uncombed light brown hair that was neck length and a medium length unkempt light brown beard.

"Holy shell…" Michelangelo gasped as he shines the light on the guy's face. "It's Jeffery."

"What!" Donatello looked at Mike with surprise. "Are you sure?" He asked suspiciously.

"Sure I'm sure." Michelangelo brought out the printed mug shot and kneels down. He held the picture up to the face so Don could see the similarities. "If we shave the beard, we can see the whole scar on his right cheek and then there is the shape of his face and the size of his nose." Mike started to shake one of Don's shoulders. "It's him I tell you, it's our owner."

"Ok, so we found him." Donatello said with indifference in his voice. "You happy now?"

"He looks horrible." Michelangelo helped Don pick the young man up off the ground. "We need to do something."

"We'll drop him off at the hospital on the way home." Donatello said as he slung Jeffery over his shoulder.

"We can't do that." Michelangelo exclaimed while he took Jeffery from Don.

Donatello was shocked. "Why not?" He asked as he tried to take the young man back from Mike.

"I dunno know. It just wouldn't seem right." Michelangelo answered while he pulled Jeffery back to him.

"So what are you suggesting we do with him." Donatello asked as he continued to play tug-of-war with Jeffery's body.

"Take him home with us." Michelangelo replied nonchalantly.

"What!" Donatello was so caught by surprise that he let go of Jeffery. Mike was sent flying back and fell back on his shell with the young man on top of him. "Are you crazy? Are you insane? What is wrong with you? Why in the world would we take _him_ back with us?"

"Why not?" Michelangelo asked harmlessly. "He's our owner, we should talk care of him just like he took care of us."

Donatello smacked his forehead, nearly knocking his hat off. "I know I've said this before, but for shell sake I'll say it again. He's a Purple Dragon and there is no way we are ever going to have one in our home."

"He's a former Purple Dragon." Michelangelo claimed. "The guy left a year ago."

"Or they kicked him out." Donatello remarked

"Either way he's not one anymore, so then it must be safe to bring him home." Michelangelo got back up on his feet and tries to adjust Jeffery in his arms so he could carry him better.

"But…we know nothing about caring for a human." Donatello pointed out. "Especially one in his condition."

"So we'll just wing it." Michelangelo answered. "Whatever it is, it can't be too hard. And you got your computer so you could look up whatever we need."

"You have an answer for everything don't you?"

"Yup."

"There's no talking you out of this is there?"

"Nope."

Donatello dropped his head and slumped his shoulders as he heaved a big sigh.

"Look, you don't have to help me if you don't want to." Michelangelo told Don. "You've done enough already."

Donatello shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "I'm already in this deep, don't see why I should stop now. Let's go home and get him into bed." He took Jeffery off Mike's hands and helps put the young man on to his brother's shell in piggyback style. "But he's taking your bed."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Michelangelo adjusted Jeffery so that the young man was on his back comfortably enough for him to carry. While getting out of the park and half way home, (where Don whacked him on his head with his Bo staff to get him to stop) Mike sang 'He's not heavy, he's my brother' but exchanged brother for owner.

* * *

_A/N: Long isn't it? I'm trying to get updates out at least once a week, but my next one might take awhile. Stuff is happening in my life, one is good :) and the other is sad_ (, _but I'm sure you don't want in on my personal life so I'll leave things at that.  
Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews, until next time._


	7. Long Night

**Long Night**

Though Jeffery was out cold and didn't look like he was going to wake anytime soon, Donatello felt that chances should not be taken and used the cowl from Michelangelo's Turtle Titan costume as a blindfold. Now the two turtles stood at the hidden entrance that led to their home.

"Alright genius, now what?" The purple clad turtle asked as he shed his fedora and trench coat.

"I think we could get past Master Splinter with the help of Leo and Raph." Michelangelo replied.

This shocked Donatello so much that he dropped what he carried. "With the help of Leo and Raph!" He bellowed. "Are you insane?"

"What to do you mean?"

"They don't know that we went out to look for this guy. Shoot, they didn't even know we looked him up or that he's a Purple Dragon."

"Former Purple Dragon."

"Same difference. My point is they're not going to be too happy when they find out that we brought the guy home."

"It'll be ok." Michelangelo said with no remorse. "There is no way Leo could turn his shell on anyone in need. You know how 'holier-than-thou' he is."

"And what would Raph get out of helpig us?" Donatello questioned. "You know how much he hates Purple Dragons."

"He gets to be rebellious." Michelangelo answered without missing a beat. "You know how he never likes to flow with the tide."

Donatello grit his teeth together as he shot Mike a glare. "Well if you knew that they were going to help, why did you just come to me?" He snarled.

Michelangelo shifted Jeffery around on his back apprehensively. "Well…you see…um…I didn't." Then he flashed a big smile at Don. "But I figure with you on my side, it would be easy to get the others to join up."

"You mean you asked me cause I was an easy target." Donatello growled.

The big smile on Michelangelo's face turned into a nervous one and he asks, "You really don't want the answer to that…do you?" Don snarled again as he brought his hands up and curls them like he was going to strangle Mike. "I'm joking! I'm joking!" The young turtle cried as he quickly backed away from his livid brother. "I came to you cause you said if I need help with anything, I could. Honest."

Donatello dropped his hands. "I suppose I did open myself up for this." He sighed, before crossing his arms and bowing his head. Mike squated down in front of Don and looked up so he could watch his brother's face. "Alright." Don nodded a moment later. "I'll go talk to them and see what they have to say."

Michelangelo straightend up quickly. "Really?" He asked excitedly. "You mean you'll still help me and get the others as well?"

Donatello began to unlock the door. "I don't guarantee anything, but I'll see what I can do." When he finished opening the lair, he turned to Mike. "I want you to wait here." Don told him as he pointed to a spot on the sewer floor in front of him. "Give me time to prepare them for all of this. If we come in and they see that Jeffery is a Purple Dragon, they might kill all of us."

Michelangelo nodded. "Alright."

Donatello inhaled deeply to build up the courage to enter the lair. "If I'm now out in five minutes, think of the worse possible scenario and run." He added before slowly creeping in.

"You're a brave turtle Donnie." Michelangelo whispered from the entrance. "You're sacrifce will not go in vain."

Donatello rolled his eyes. '_Sacrifce my foot. The first moment they ask who's to blame, I'm pointing the finger at you...maybe._' He stealthly moved out into the center of the lair and looks to find nobody around. No one was in the exersiceing area or in the T.V. area either. '_It is pretty late, I guess everyone went to bed._ _That means I have to wake up either Splinter Jr. or The Hothead. But which one?_' Don took a few seconds to think before he decides, '_I think I'd go with Splinter Junior first. Only he could really handle The Hothead._' He jogged over to Leonardo's room and raps lightly on the door. "Leon?" A non reply caused Don to slowly open the door and poke his head in; nobody was there. '_Maybe he's meditating._' He checked the dojo, but still no Leo.

"Guess I have no other choice." Donatello muttered as he moved up to Raphael's room. "But waking him will take a little finesse, especial with the way he snores." He threw Raph's door open with a slam. "Up and…?" Nobody was there. "…ok." Deciding to take a chance, Don went over to Master Splinter's sleeping quarters to ask where his brothers might be, but nobody there either and that left him with no other place to check. "Where the shell could everybody be?" He asked himself as he scratched the top of his head. "Oh well." Don shrugged. "Hey Mikey!" He called out. "The coast is clear, go ahead and bring the guy in."

Michelangelo poked his head into the lair. "You sure?" He looked around. "Where is everybody?"

"Got me." Donatello answered with another shrug. "You put that guy in your room while I check my lab for a note." He ordered. "I just hope they didn't break anything in there."

Michelangleo nodded. "Alright." Then quickly went up to put Jeffery in his room.

"And don't forget to take off that ridiculous costume." Donatello added, only to get a 'aw' in return. He shook his head as he went over to his lab area and finds a note on his workbench.

'_Donnie, all the T.V.s shorted out. Master Splinter went to April's to watch the news. Most likely he will spend the night if he does the usual routine of falling asleep in front of the television. Raph and I decided hanging around the lair was going to be dull, so we went out for a midnight pizza and to hang out around the city a bit. Don't bother wating up for us. Leo. P.S. Seeing as you are already babysitting Mikey, make sure he goes to bed at a reasonably hour. You know how he is when he doesn't get his 'beauty sleep'. Catch you later._'

Miffed, Donatello crumpled up the note into a paperball and throws it into a nearby trashbin. "There are about twenty television set over there. How on Earth did those guys short them all out?" He took up his tools and headed for the TV area. "And what is this, 'Seeing as you are already babysitting Mikey, make sure he goes to bed a a reasonable time.'" He set his tools down so he could find the problem with the televisions.

Meanwhile, Elsewhere 

Michelangelo threw his blankets to one side before placing Jeffery on his bed. Once the young man was tucked in, Mike took the rest of his costume off. Just as the turtle finished, a groan escapes from the lips of the young man. Mike went over to him to see what the matter was. Another groan followed by a bunch of small quick breaths comes from the Jeffery's mouth. The young turtle felt Jeffery's forehead to find it was hot and was starting to become sweaty.

"He's running a fever…I think." Michelangelo rushed over to his bedroom door and shouts out, "Donnie? Donnie, I need a bowl of water and rag."

"Why don't you get it yourself?" Donatello called back.

"Cause I have to stay here and keep up an eye on Jeffery." Michelangelo answered. "Besides, I think I may need you up here."

"Alright, I'll be up in a sec." Donatello sighed. "But if Leo and Raph get mad at me for not fixing the TVs I'm going to blame you."

"Whatever." Michelangelo went back over to his bed to check on Jeffery again.

Suddenly Jeffery sat up with his eyes still closed and grabs Mike by the shoulders. "I…I need a fix man." He moaned. "You got to help me…" He shook Mike violently. "I really, really, _really_ need a fix."

Jeffery's actions confused Michelangelo and he was a little frightened by those actions. "But…"

"I'll take anything, _anything_." Jeffery said feverishly. "Any drug ya got or any drug ya can spare, please. I pay whatever price ya want."

"But I don't have any drugs." Michelangelo told the frantic young man. "Besides, you really don't need stuff like that." He pushed Jeffery back down on the bed. "What you need is some rest and…"

"NO!" Jeffery shouted as he pushed Mike's hands away and grabs the turtles face. "I told you, I-need-a-fix." He said severely as he brought Mike's face to his. "I have to have a snort, a pill, a shot. Shoot, even a toke would satisfy me for a bit."

Michelangelo grabbed Jeffery's wrists and pries the young man's hands off his face. "Drugs are not good for you. If you keep taking them, they'll kill you."

"Are you some kind of after school special!" Jeffery squealed. "I don't need you trying to run my life. I'm old enough to be able to make my own decisions." While yanking his wrist from Mike's hands, Jeffery opened his eyes. "Oh my god!" He screamed. "What in the world are you? Some sort of Martian?" Then suddenly, the young man started to laugh manically. "What am I saying, you have to be a hallucination." He shook his head. "Man I must have got a good batch of E…or maybe it was some tainted H." Jeffery went back to laughing.

Michelangelo was even more confused than he was before. "Good batch of E? Tainted H?"

"He means Ecstasy and Heroin." Donatello explained; he stood at Mike's door with the bowl of water and rag he promised to bring up. "There are two of the three top most wanted drugs." He came over to the bed and places the bowl of water on it. "The third being Cocaine."

"Ok, he said something about a snort, pill, shot…" Michelangelo counted on his fingers, "and a toke. What are all those?"

Donatello gave a deep sigh. "You snort lines of Cocaine, Ecstasy is a pill, shooting Heroin is really injecting yourself with the stuff through a syringe, and a toke is smoking Marijuana that is either rolled up like a cigarette or shoved in a glass pipe."

Michelangelo turned back to Jeffery. "What does any of that stuff do for you that makes you need it so bad?"

"That stuff can give the most incredible high you wouldn't believe." Jeffery answered. "It gives you such great feelings that it makes all your pain and all your worries dis…appear…" After trailing off, the young man put a hand on his forehead and shakes his head. "What a minute, what am I doing talking to a hallucination?"

"Actually we're not hallucinations." Donatello replied as he tried to get the young man to lie back down on the bed. "Now tonight is going to be a long night, so why don't you just relax and…"

"What are you talking about not being a hallucination?" Jeffery shouted while trying to push Don away from himself. "There is no way in he…"

"Shell." Donatello censored.

That caught Jeffery by surprise and he stops struggling for a moment. "Um…right." He cleared his throat and resumes fighting with Don. "Anyway, there is now way in…um…shell that anything like you could ever exist. You _have_ to be a hallucination."

With a strong shove to the shoulders, Donatello manages to pin Jeffery down on the bed. "Can a hallucination do this?" He asked irritably. "Now do you think you could be a good little drug addict and calm down?"

Seeing as Don was clearly stronger than himself, Jeffery let his arms go limp and starts to breathe heavy with fright. "Then…then what are you and…and why am I here?"

"We're Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." Michelangelo announced proudly.

"Mutant…Turtles?" Jeffery gulped.

Realizing that Jeffery was quite scared now, Donatello releases him. "Don't worry, we're not going to hurt you." He told the young man calmly as he sat down on the side of the bed.

Michelangelo plopped down on the bed near Jeffery's legs. "Yeah, we're going to take good care of you."

Jeffery sat back up and glared at the two turtles. "Take care of me!" He put fingers on his temples and began to massage them like he had a headache.

Donatello handed Mike the bowl of water with the rag already in it. "It's going to be ok." He soothed and he reached out to take hold of the young man's wrist. "You're in good hands."

Jeffery saw Don reaching out to him and he murmurs, "In…good…hands…" His face screwed up like something triggered in his mind. "NO!" The young man shouted as swatted Don's hands away from him. "No more. No more shock therapy. No more water therapy…" He kicked the bowl that Mike had, making water fly all over the place. "No more." Jeffery cried as he scooted away from the two turtles. "I'm not crazy, I'm not crazy." He moaned repeatedly and continues to scoot, until he reached the upper end of the bed and he falls off. After tumbling down from the high platform the bed was on, Jeffery landed on his back and curls up into the fetal position.

At first Mike and Don were frozen to spot where they sat. Never had they seen such a thing happen in real life. Once he found the ability to move, Michelangelo jumped down from his bed and lands in front of Jeffery; who was now sobbing hysterically.

"Dude…?"

Jeffery stopped sobbing to look up at the turtle that now seem to tower over him. "I'm sorry mommy, I'm sorry." He whimpered as he sat up on his rear and puts his hands up in defense. "Please don't hurt me, please. I didn't mean to question you." Jeffery scrambled to his feet and backs away from Mike until his back was up against the wall. "I learned in school that mixing alcohol and pills would kill you." He slid down the wall until he was his knees were pressed to his chest and he covers his head. "Please don't hurt me. I just don't want you to die."

Michelangelo rushed over to the panicked young man and kneels in front of him. "Jeffery..." He whispered as he tries to pull Jeffery into a hug. "It's ok, it's ok."

Jeffery shoved Mike away. "Don't touch me." He shouted. "I don't need you and you're stupid psychico babble." He threw a punch at Mike, but the turtle dodges it easy. "You can take your psychiatry certificates and your medical diplomas and your doctrines and shove them where the sun don't shine." He threw another punch and this time Mike jumps away from him. "Dad drinks all the time, mom pops pills, and I'm the one treated like I have some kind of problem." The young man jumped to his feet and puts his hands up like he was ready to box. "What kind of messed up world is this?"

Not wishing to fight, Michelangelo backed away until his shell was up against the platform his bed was on. "Donnie, what's going on?" He asked as he looked up at his elder brother. "Why is he acting this way?"

"He's hallucinating now." Donatello answered as he jumped down next to Mike. "He must be suffering from the lack of drugs and alcohol in his system."

"You mean he's suffering from withdraw?" Michelangelo asked.

"Yes." Donatello nodded. "Apparently what he is hallucinating about is what has happened to him."

"I told you, I don't need to go to no stinking rehab." Jeffery yelled as he advanced towards the two turtles. "I told you that my mother and father had both been addicts and nothing bad ever happen to them while poppin' pills and tipping bottles." He started throwing punches as them. "So what's the big deal about me getting all cleaned up? I like what I've become. I like forgetting what as happened. I don't wanna remember nothing."

"Ok, you know what?" Donatello jumped over the young man and lands behind him. "I know you got problems, but I'm tired and I'm not really in the mood to fight." He grabbed Jeffery from behind, pinning the guy's arms to the sides. "So why don't you just calm down."

Jeffery tried to head-butt Don. "Let go of me. I won't let you stick those electrodes on me again, do you hear?" He started jumping about, making it hard for Don to keep a good hold on him.

"I'd really wish he'd stick to one time in his life." Michelangelo complained. "I'm getting tired of trying to figure him out."

"How about you stop trying to figure him out and give me a hand." Donatello ordered. "Why don't you grab his legs? If we pin him down, he might wear out and calm down."

Mike tried to reach for Jeffery's legs, but the young gives a sharp kick to Mike's chest and the young turtle flies back. "I said 'Let go of me.'" When Mike hit the platform with a loud slam, Jeffery suddenly stopped struggling. "What was that?" He turned his head about in all directions. "Did you hear that?"

"What is it?" Michelangelo groaned as he rubbed the spot that was just kicked.

"Sirens." Jeffery whispered. "We got to get out of here. Come on Dragons, let's grab what we got and get back to base." He tried to run, but found that he was restrained. "What is this?" Jeffery tried to pull free. "Hey, this isn't a fair." Now he seemed to be yelling at thin air. "You guys can't leave me like this. I packed full of contrabands that will get me sent up state for years." In a desperate attempt to get free, he slammed a foot towards the ground and stomps on Don's foot in the process.

"Gaaaaa!" Donatello cried as he let go of Jeffery and grabbed his throbbing foot. He began jumping about as the pain continues to pump through it.

"So that's it." Jeffery snarled as he turns around. "It was all a big set up." Looking around the room, he spied a baseball bat on the floor and snatches it up. "I thought the Purple Dragons were one big family, but I guess I found out that that's all just lousy rumors." He raised the bat above his head. "You guys just go out and prey on the lonely and disregarded. Well, I'll teach you to mess with a person's mind." Jeffery went to bring the bat down on Don, but finds that he could not. The bat is yanked out of his hands as a hand lands on his shoulder and he was spun around to be facing Mike once more. "You want a piece of this too?"

(SMACK!) Michelangelo backhands the young man, hard. "Snap out of it." He threw the bat to one side and grabs Jeffery's shoulders. "You're in pain, I can see that, but we can help you if you let us."

Due to the slap, Jeffery was stunned a little. He stares blankly at Mike while a small trickle of blood comes from the corner of his mouth and dribbles down the side of his beard. "Who…who are you again?"

"Michel…" Michelangelo hesitated for a moment. "Shellington."

"Shellington?" Jeffery whispered. "No…no." He shut his eyes. "Shellington was one of my pet turtles, but he and his brothers are dead." His legs buckled and Mike loses grip of the shoulder as the young man falls to the floor on his knees. "And it's my fault." He sobbed. "I saw the truck and then the man and then the other man…I should have seen the container coming…I should have…"

"Accidents…" Michelangelo kneed down in front of Jeffery and manages to finally pull the young man into hug he attempted earlier. "Accidents happen. Nobody could foresee what was going to happen."

Jeffery buried his face into Mike's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I'm _so_ sorry." He cried.

"It'll be ok." Michelangelo said as he smoothed Jeffery's hair. "It'll be ok."

Donatello cleared his throat. "(Ahem) Seeing as you now have everything under control, I'm going to go get some ice for my foot." He limped over to the door and before going out, says, "If you need anything, just give a shout." As he closed the door behind him, Don shook his head.

The chimes of an antique cuckoo clock that hung somewhere in the lair gave the hour to be six.

"Gads what a night this has been." Donatello sighed.

"Do tell."

Donatello looked up to have his eyes meet three pairs of glaring ones. Standing before him was Leo, Raph, and Master Splinter. Their arms were cross and discontent was plastered on their faces.

"Oh shell…"

* * *

_A/N: Seeing as I've never done drugs before, I wouldn't know what going through withdraw would be like, so I did the best that I could with the imagination I got.  
As I think about things, I really should stop beating round the bush and dropping little tidbits about Jeffery's past. Perhaps_ _I should finally give the background next chapter...maybe?  
Anyway, thanks for reading and reviews (very encouraging by the way), until next time._


	8. Trouble That Brews Within The Family pt1

**Troubles That Brew Within The Family (pt. 1)**

With the exception of Michelangelo, who was busy dealing with something else at the moment, everyone gathered in the T.V. area. Master Splinter sat in his armchair that was placed in front of the TVs and faced the couch; Leonardo kneeled next to it. Raphael sat on one end of the couch and Donatello sat on the other. After taking a deep breath, the purple clad turtle spilled everything. The purple clad told about the discovery of the poster, Michelangelo's obsession going from looking up the mysterious owner to searching for him, then ended with actually finding the guy and bringing him home. He finished the tale by the time Mike showed up to joined the group.

The orange clad turtle groaned as he walked exhaustedly over to a well-used beach chair that was next to the couch, on the same side Don sat, and collapsed into it. "He's finally asleep." He yawned while draping an arm over his eyes.

"That's good to hear, but now we have many things to discuss." Master Splinter said sternly. "First, let me express my disappointment in all of you for hiding such a thing from me. Further more, I…"

A loud snore interrupted the elder rat's lecture and he looks to see Mike fast asleep. He sighed deeply as he directed his attention to Don and finds him asleep too. The techno-savvy turtle's arms were folded on the armrest and his head lay upon them. Splinter looked over at Raph to see the turtle's head was tilted back, his arms crossed on his chest, and a spot of drool dribbled from the corner of his mouth. Another sigh escaped the elder rat's lips as he looks over the side of his chair at Leo. The blue clad turtle was still on his knees with his head bowed and hands on his thighs. The soft snoring that came from his mouth revealed that he was also asleep. '_I suppose I should let them sleep._' The elder rat thought while he shook his head. '_Today is going to be a _very_ busy day for them._'

**That Afternoon**

As punishment for their disobedience, the four turtles were sentence to clean the lair from top to bottom. For helping Mike and not telling anyone of the young turtle's intentions, Don was to repair the televisions before cleaning the bathroom. For conning his braniac brother and bringing home a possible enemy, Mike was to clean the entire kitchen; including all cupboards, oven, microwave, and refrigerator. As for the small part they played in the secrecy of all this, Leo and Raph were to clean the dojo. When the individual jobs were done, the four were to clean the main part of the lair, their rooms, the garage above and all the vehicles it housed.

Of course that was later, right now Don and Mike's were to stand in the middle of the dojo with a pail of water in each hand as extra punishment for being the most disobedient. Already they have stood five of the fifteen minutes warranted.

Seeing as there was no reason as to why they should wait, Leo and Raph decided to clean the dojo while their brothers stood there.

"Ya and yer big mouth." The red clad turtle grumbled as he scrubbed the floor.

"It wasn't my idea to hide this whole thing from Master Splinter in the first place." Donatello replied.

"But did you have to tell him everything?" Leonardo asked.

"He wanted the whole story." Donatello answered. "It was kind of hard to tell it and leave you two out without drawing some sort of suspicion. Do you think I want to be in anymore trouble?"

"He has a point." Michelangelo commented.

"You stay outta dis." Raphael growled as he threw a wet sponge at Mike's head. The sponge ricocheted off the young turtle's head and lands in one of the buckets he held. "It's yer fault we all got in trouble in da first place."

Michelangelo looked shocked. "My fault!" He exclaimed. "How is this my fault?"

Raphael put his hands on his hips. "Master Splinter wouldn't have found out about any of dis if ya didn't go out lookin' for da guy." He replied angrily.

"Well gee, I'm _so_ sorry that I went out looking for something from our past." Michelangelo retorted.

"Nobody asked ya ta go diggin' it up." Raphael grumbled irritably.

"And nobody asked me not to." Michelangelo scoffed.

"But why?" Leonardo asked when he stopped scrubbing the wall he was at, in order to look over at Mike.

"Why not?" Michelangelo asked back.

With an infuriated grunt, Raphael stormed over to Mike and flicked him in the forehead. "Don't answer a question with a question, ya goob."

Michelangelo gave an angry snort. "Why don't you just leave me alone?"

"What right do _ya_ got ta be angry?" Raphael sneered as he gave Mike a dirty look. The orange clad turtle turned his face away with a 'humph'. "Oh fine." Raph quipped. "Have a snit fit." While folding his arms in front of him, he turned his back to Mike. "It's what ya do best. Goes right along with gettin' everyone in trouble when they end up havin' ta clean up _yer_ messes."

Michelangelo whipped his head back so that he could glare at the back of Raph's. He opened his mouth to say something, but when nothing came out, he drops his head. For a few minutes Mike did nothing, then suddenly he gripped the handles of the pails tightly. At first his shoulders and arms start to tremble, which shook the pails he held, causing the water to ripple. Then the young turtle's whole body quivered.

Donatello had been watching this fight unfold and saw that it was taking a different toll on Mike than the usual Raph/Mike squabbles usually did. "Mikey?" The purple clad turtle whispered to the orange one. Mike's reply was to grit his teeth so fiercely, that they could be heard grinding against one another. Don took this to be a sign of anger. "It's just Raphie being his usual hotheaded self." He said calmly. "Just ignore him."

Upon hearing this, Raphael spun around to tell Don off. But when he saw Mike, he couldn't help making a crude comment. "Typical."

That seemed to be the straw that broke the turtle's shell. "This is why I never turned to you!" Michelangelo cried while throwing down one of his pails down. The pail hit the floor with such force, that side of the metal container dented. Water splashed onto the feet of the three turtles that stood there and seeped into the straw mat covering the floor.

"Mikey!" Donatello shouted while he shook water off his feet. "What…" He watched Mike pick his head up and saw that his little brother had started to cry. "Oh man…" He was about to approach the upset turtle when he saw Mike take up the other pail in both hands. This caused Don to jump back, even through he figured that he probably wasn't the target of the next attack.

"Uh oh…" Raphael gulped.

Michelangelo pulled the pail back before throwing the liquid contents at Raph. "You think I'm nothing more than a big baby!" He yelled.

The water hit the red clad turtle in the face and chest. After spiting out a mouthful of water, Raph says, "Of course I do. Especially when ya throw a tantrum like dis." He ran his hands down his face in order to get rid of the excess water.

"But you never take me serious." Michelangelo yelled. "This is exactly the reason why I didn't voice my _real_ opinion earlier. I knew that if I did, I would have gotten shot down badly." Mike started jabbing his fore-finger into Raph's chest. "You never take my feelings into consideration when it comes to serious stuff like this. You just think that I'm some big idiot who doesn't know any better or what he's talking about, just because I don't agree with your single minded opinion."

"I do that with everyone Mikey." Raphael snorted. He grabbed the finger that was jabbing him. "And if ya don't stop pokin' me, I'll break yer finger."

"See? See!" Michelangelo barked while he pulled his finger free. "You're not even taking me serious right now." A few more tears came streaming down his face. "You're nothing more than a big jerk." He gave Raph a hard shove before running out of the dojo.

"Where do ya think yer goin'?" Raphael demanded as he chased after his brother.

Leonardo met Raph at the door and grabs him by the arm. "Let him go." He told the hotheaded turtle.

Raphael glared at Leo. "And just who's goin' ta clean up dis water mess of his?" He asked. "Not me, dat's fer sure."

"Heaven forbid." Donatello said sarcastically. "After all, why should you_ have_ to clean up after him if it bothers you so much." Raph now turned to glare at Don. He went to say something, but his purple clad turtle beat him to the punch. "You're mad, we all get that. But taking it out on Mikey isn't going to do any good. What's happen happened and there is nothing that could be done about it." He stated flatly.

"He's right." Leonardo added. "Besides, Mikey has his reasons for doing all this and it's not really our place to question them."

Raphael stared at both his brothers with a stun look on his face. "Are ya both blind or sumthin'?" He asked. "Did ya not notice da Purple Dragon tat dat rested on da guy's shoulder?"

"He hasn't been with the Purple Dragons for over a year." Donatello explained. "At least that's what his criminal record seemed to show."

"But ya can't know a person from newspaper articles and criminal records." Raphael snapped.

"Which is why we should find out more about him before jumping to a conclusion." Leonardo replied.

"We really should try and trust Mikey's judgment. After all, he does seem to have this ability to see a person for who they truly are." Donatello pointed out. "If the guy was really as bad as you're making him out to be, Raphie, than Mikey wouldn't have been so hyped up on finding him."

"I suppose so." Raphael grumbled.

**Meanwhile**

Outside the dojo, in the kitchen, Master Splinter could hear the fight that broke out between Mike and Raph. A deep sigh left his lips before the side of a cup of hot tea touched them. '_Whoever said that having children was a blessing, obvious never had any._' Of course he could not blame his middle son for being upset with the youngest, he really wasn't too happy that a human had been brought to their home without his permission.

A few minutes after the fighting started, it ended with Mike darting from the dojo to his room. Splinter thought it best not to say anything, but just let the youth do what was needed to make himself feel better. He was about to take another sip of tea from his cup when a pungent stench entered the room.

Actually it was a mixture of smells. Some were recognizable, like day old booze and garbage, while others were not. Unable to take the horrid aroma, the ninjitsu master covers his nose while looking for the source of the dreadful stink.

Eventually his eyes find their way to the kitchen entrance where a terrible looking Jeffery stood, seemingly trying to support the archway with his left shoulder and hands. He wore a pair of scratched up shades that must have been found in Mike's room; mostly likely tossed carelessly on the floor and kicked to the side somewhere. The clothes looked like they have never left his body and were well slept in. As for his hair, it was so messy that it could make expert beauticians sob if he were to walk into their parlors.

It took a few failed attempts, but Jeffery eventually manages to stand up somewhat straight and stagger his way into the kitchen. Unsteadily, he stumbled over to the kitchen table and flops into a chair opposite Splinter.

"Worried your nose is going to fall off or something old…man?" Jeffery groggily asked Splinter.

Due to studying the young man that sat before him, Master Splinter had briefly forgotten he was holding his nose at the moment. "(Ahem) Pardon me. I have smelled many things in my life, but I don't recall smelling anything close to what is emanating from you."

"From me?" Jeffery lifted an arm and takes a whiff from his armpit. His nose sounded so stuffed, clogged to the point that nothing, not even air, could have an easy time getting through. "I smell nothing wrong." He put his arm back down and looks over at the rat once more.

Master Splinter removed his hand. "My mistake then." He moved his cup under his nose so the aroma from his tea could block the stench the clueless Jeffery put out. "So…" Somehow, sitting across from his sons' former owner felt quite awkward. "My youngest son, Michelangelo, seems quite taken with you."

"Really." Jeffery grumbled.

Master Splinter shifted around in his seat a bit. "Well yes, actually." He gave his throat a brief clearing. "I've never known him to be as disobedient as he was last night."

"It's not like I asked him to go out looking for me or to bring me back to this dump." Jeffery huffed.

"Well there seems to be something about you that called out to Michelangelo." Master Splinter said while trying to remain calm. Jeffery's attitude was starting to set him off a bit.

"What about me could possible have called out to him?" Jeffery asked. "I'm not the person I was fifteen years ago. Can he not see what I have become?"

"Perhaps he is seeing past what you are now." Master Splinter answered.

"You mean I could do worse than I am now?" Jeffery questioned.

"Why would you think that you will only do worse and not better?" Master Splinter quizzed.

Jeffery shot up from his chair. "Look at me old rat." Having gotten slightly dizzy, the young man grabbed the table for support. "I'm not the good little boy I once was a life time ago." He flopped back down into his chair. "I'm became a bad boy who grew up to be a bad man. I'm a criminal, a thug…a Purple Dragon. What good could possible come from trash like me?"

"According to Donatello, you haven't been with the Purple Dragons for over a year." Master Splinter stated simply. "What made you stop?"

"Either they could no longer supply my habits or they could no longer put up with me anymore." Jeffery mumbled. "All I know is I had one too many fits and one day I suddenly find myself out on the streets trying to get what I need to stay 'sane'."

"Well I admit that I'm not quite really sure what it is Michelangelo see in you, but I think I do have a pretty good idea as to why he is reaching out." Master Splinter said plainly. "And as I've said before, whatever is within you has to be something worth it. Maybe a side of you that you must have forgotten or may not have even found yet." He took a quick sip of tea from his cup. "Besides, I have a feeling that if you tell us about yourself, the things before my sons came to your care and after they left it, we are sure to…."

Jeffery let out a harsh laugh. "Right." This caused Splinter to raise an eyebrow at this. "Next you'll suggest we move to the living room, if you got one, and ask me to lie down on a couch so I could tell you about my mother. Then you could tell me all about what kind of mental problems I have." He gave another harsh laugh before getting up from his seat to leave. "Thanks, but no thanks. If I wasn't willing to open myself up to the certified quacks I was sent to, what makes you think I would open up to you?"

Master Splinter jumped up from his chair and grabs the young man by the sleeve of his coat. "I am not trying to judge you." He stated simply. "I just wish understand you and I think that it's only fair that my sons try to get to know you as well."

While removing the shades, Jeffery turned around so he could take a good and hard look at the elder rat that had him by the sleeve. "Hmm…" His eyes were bloodshot red with dark bags and many wrinkles. "So you're not lookin' to get inside my head?" He asked quietly.

"No." Master Splinter answered just as quietly.

"Ok."

* * *

_A/N: I would just like to blame my long delay on the penguines who stole my brain piece by piece, hence enbling me from producing my chapter on time. (...) Alright, so I got lazy and had a small case of writer's block.  
I also know that I promised to go into Jeffery's background history this chapter, but as soon as I started writting it I found it looking like it going to be a two parter and so you'll have to wait till next chapter. Sorry (shrugs).  
Thanks for reading and the reviews, until next time._


	9. Trouble That Brews Within The Family pt2

**Trouble That Brews Within The Family (pt. 2)**

Now that Jeffery was convinced to tell his tale, Master Splinter decided that the turtles should hear it also. Being at this was important for them, he was willing to let their punishment chores be put on hold for the moment.

But one thing needed to be done before anything else and that was to have Jeffery at least look decent. After all, he was human. Shouldn't he try and look somewhat like it? At least the young man could take a shower that was seriously needed…perhaps get a hair cut…maybe a shave, and of course he would need some clean clothes.

In order to get one or all of these tasks accomplished, a phone call to April was made. "Don't worry Splinter, I'll call Casey and we'll take of everything." The redhead told him. "See you in a couple of minutes."

"M…Mr. Jones?" Splinter stammered.

"Of course." April laughed. "We're dealing with a guy after all. Casey would be the perfect person to have help out."

"I suppose you are right Ms. O'Neil." Master Splinter sighed.

"Don't worry Splinter, Casey's clumsiness has gotten better thank to the joint business." April assured the elder rat. "He isn't breaking half as many things as he used to."

"That is good." Master Splinter said. "Thank you for the warning."

"What?"

"Nothing. See you in a few minutes, goodbye." After Master Splinter hung up the phone, he pointed Jeffery in the direction of the bathroom. "Our other human friends will be coming momentarily, so you go ahead and take your shower." He told the young man. "They will have clean clothes when they get here."

Jeffery shoved his hands into his pockets. "Alright." He sulked as he shuffled off towards the bathroom. While making his way there, he continued to grumble under his breath. "Don't see why though. I am in sewers after all. Can't smell any worse than this place does."

Master Splinter rolled his eyes. "Act just like them." He muttered to himself as he went over to the dojo.

In the dojo, Donatello was not taking his punishment as seriously as he should be. He was standing in a relax position, his left arm dangling by his side while his right one rested on his hip and one leg was cross behind the other. Leonardo was just finishing mopping up the water that was spilt on the straw mat and Raphael was drying the last of himself off.

When Splinter entered the area, Donatello snapped to attention. "S…sensei." He stuttered. "Um…about Mikey…" A nervous look came onto his face.

The elder rat put up a hand. "No need to explain my son." He said. "I know what has happened here. I just came in here to end your time-out and to have you all prepare for Mr. Jones's arrive."

Leonardo jumped to his feet. "Casey is coming over?"

"That is correct. I need Ms. O'Neil's help cleaning up that young human your brothers have brought home." Master Splinter explained. "Unfortunately she needs his help, so we need to put everything up."

"Yes sensei." All three turtles answered in unison while they bowed. Splinter gave a nod of acknowledgement before leaving the room.

Raph quickly gathered the cleaning supplies he used into the two pails Mike was supposed to hold and followed out after his father.

Leo was in the process of collecting his cleaning supplies too when he got paged. "Hey Leon?"

"What is it Donnie?" Leonardo asked as he looked over at his brother.

The purple clad turtle gave the blue one an embarrassing grin. "Could you help me let go of the pail handles?" He asked. "My fingers are kind of frozen and I can't move them."

"Yeah, sure." Leonardo smirked. He put down the supplies and went over to the helpless turtle. He took one of the hands and slowly uncurled the fingers.

Donatello bit his lower lip as the pain coursed through his stiff fingers. He let out a quiet whimper. "Niiiii."

"Just one more hand." Leonardo assured Don as he took the pail from the hand he just freed. After placing the metal container full of liquid on the floor, he took the other hand and slowly uncurled it.

This time Donatello grit his teeth until Leo was done. "Nerf." He said while wiggling his fingers. "Thanks."

"No problem." Leonardo laughed. He took Don's pails and Don took his cleaning supplies. Then the two turtles walked out of the dojo.

With the lair was being Casey-proofed by his other sons and Jeffery enjoying a nice hot shower, Splinter went up to Mike's room. He rapped lightly on the door. "Michelangelo?" The elder rat called in while he slowly opened the door.

A barely audible answer came in return. "Yes sensei?" This was followed by a couple of thunks.

"May I come in my son?" Master Splinter asked while being curious about the strange noise that followed his son's response.

Another thunk was heard. "Yes…"

Splinter opened the door fully and enters the room. Not seeing Mike anywhere, the elder rat looked around for him. To the left of the door was a drawing of Raph's face taped to the wall. The red clad turtle was drawn with horns on his head, a wicked grin showing pointed teeth, and a thought balloon saying 'I'm such a dork'. A few ninja stars were stuck in the picture and there were markings showing that they had been imbedded there many times before.

To the right was Mike's bed. It sat on a high platform, almost like a bunk bed, except with no bottom bed. Usually one could see underneath the young turtle's bed, but at this time there was two large blankets pin to the frame like curtains.

A smile curled onto Splinter's mouth while a small memory wandered through his head as he carefully made his way over to the bed. "My son?" The elder asked while poking his head through the small slit the two blankets made in the middle of the frame.

"Yes…" Michelangelo answered quietly. He was laying in the dark on his back, looking up at the bottom of his bed. A small baseball was in his hands.

"I see that you are feeling quite nostalgic of late." Master Splinter commented.

"Yeah..." Michelangelo threw the ball up at the bottom of the bed and caught it when it came back down; it made the same thunk sound as was heard before.

Master Splinter hooked the edge of the two blankets on the sides of the frame, in order to shed some light under the bed. "I am getting to old for this." He grunted while crawling under the bed and Mike sat up to make room for him. "But I do admit that it has been a while since you made your little fort."

"You mean the Fortress of Sulkitude." Michelangelo scowled as he threw his baseball out from under the bed and it hit the drawing of Raph, knocking all the ninja stars off it. "The name stupid Raph gave at his dumb attempt to being funny."

"I know that you are angry and you are hurt by your brother's words," Master Splinter says calmly, "but you must know that all of this is quite sudden." He put a hand on Mike's shoulders. "From this moment on, nothing will be the same. What is happening here, now, is a life changing occurrence and it can be a scary experience."

Michelangelo looked down at the fingers he began to mess with. "…guess…"

"And you do need to understand that your brothers might be feeling forced to revisit that that they are not comfortable revisiting." Master Splinter pointed out.

"Yeah, I know…but…" Michelangelo fumbled for words he wished to use to express himself. "They…they were going to write this whole thing off without a second glance, like this whole thing was nothing. But…but I couldn't do that, I mean, _this was a part of our lives_. We can't just turn our shells on it and pretend he didn't exist. He _is_ the reason we're still around."

"Michelangelo…why did you not come to me about all this?" Master Splinter asked. He hid the fact that he felt a little hurt that it was not _he_ who his youngest came to with such a problem, but to one of his brothers.

"I…I don't know." Michelangelo sniffled. "The poster…owner…Leo said…but Raph…and…there was Don…want…" At this point the young turtle had lost the ability to form any one thought in his head.

Seeing Mike upset, Master Splinter went into a technique he used to use to help calm his sons. First he inhaled deeply and slowly let it out. Then he did it again and again, until Mike did the same. "That's it my son. Take a deep breath and ease your mind." He said calmly, once Mike and he had a rhythm going. "Everything will work itself out."

Michelangelo nodded. "…yes sensei…" He continued to do the meditative breathing.

Suddenly an alarm came blaring over the speakers; only it was more of a song. It was 'Casey Junior' from the Disney cartoon 'Dumbo', but some of the words were somehow changed.

"_Casey Jones is coming to our home, coming to our home.  
__With his reckless act._

_Hear him stompin', trompin' around the turn.  
__Casey's here to burn,  
__Our most priceless urn. _

_Every time his funny little cycle sounds,  
__Everyone hurries to avoid the pounds._

_It's time for stockades and safety jacks.  
__Casey Jones is back, Casey Jones is back._"

Forgetting about how upset he was, Michelangelo dashed out from under his bed with Master Splinter following close behind. "Dude, was that your new alarm?" He asked his tech-savvy brother. "Was that to warn us of when Casey was coming?"

Donatello was in his lab, by his computer, beaming with pride. "Yup." He said proudly.

Raphael was standing in front of the lab. "That was horrible." He groaned. "It hardly rhymed at all."

"It did too rhyme." Donatello protested.

"Barely." Leonardo laughed from couch.

"Well I could have down worse." Donatello huffed. "I could have used that recording I have of Raph singing while in the shower. Off-key I might add."

"You what!" Raphael roared. "When…? Why…?" His face was turning a dark red of embarrassment.

"I was testing some audio equipment I had fixed up and thought you were the perfect test subject to use it on." Donatello said nonchalantly.

"Oh, oh, oh." Michelangelo started bouncing around like he had to go to the bathroom or something. "Do you really have that?" He asked. "I wanna hear it. Can I hear it Donnie? Can I?" He ran up towards the lab.

"Sure." Donatello laughed. He went into one of his drawers and pulls out a hand-held tape recorder.

"No!" Raphael yelped. "I want dat tape." He jumped up into the lab and tried to snatch the recorder away from his brother.

"Mikey, head's up." Donatello said as he threw the recorder out of his lab.

"I got it! I got it!" Michelangelo cried while jumping up to catch the thrown object.

Raphael jumped out of the lab after Mike. "Mikey! You better give me dat tape if ya wanna live." He warned.

"Catch me if you can." Michelangelo pulled down the corner of his left eye while he stuck his tongue out at his livid brother.

Not wanting to miss out on all the fun, Leonardo jumped up off the couch. "Mikey, I'm open." He cried from behind Raph, waving his hands about.

Michelangelo threw the recorder. "Comin' at ya." It sailed over Raph, right into Leo's hands.

"_Leo_." Raphael growled.

Leonardo shrugged sympathetically to his brother in red. "Sorry Raph." The blue one tittered. "But this is too good to pass up." He managed to jump over Raph when the turtle lunged at him.

At this point, Splinter decided he was just going to stay out of the way by making tea and snacks. Just as he disappeared into the kitchen, the doors of the elevator that led to the upstairs garage opened to reveal April and Casey.

"Hey guys, what's up?" April asked when she stepped out.

"Oh, nothing much." Leonardo said casually as he threw the recorder over to Don, with Raph chasing after it.

"Really." The redhead laughed. "Where is Splinter?"

"Kitchen." Donatello answered before throwing the recorder over to Mike. "He making tea, I think."

April started for the kitchen. "You coming Casey?" She called back.

"In a minute." Casey answered as he stepped out of the elevator, carrying a large bag of stuff. He was quite intrigued by the 'keep away' game.

"Right…" The red-haired woman sighed before entering the kitchen. She saw Splinter with his head in the fridge. "So…"

The elder rat removed his head and looks at the young woman. "What?"

"So what is he like? How do the turtles feel about finding him?" April asked anxiously. "You didn't give much detail over the phone."

"He…" The ninjitsu master hesitated a bit before giving a full answer. "He's not what I expected." He finally said. "It would seem that life had dealt him quite a hand, but I do not wish to make that assumption until I get the full story."

"I see." April said with a nod. "So what's going to happen now?"

"Well, once he is cleaned up and dress, I hope to have him give us a full story about himself." Master Splinter answered.

"And that's where Casey and I come in, right." April gave her forehead a light smack. "We'll get right on it."

Suddenly Raphael's off-key sing bellowed throughout the lair. Both April and Splinter popped their head out of the kitchen to see what was going on.

Poor dumbfound Casey stood in the middle of the lair with a hand massaging a purple bump on his forehead while holding the recorder blaring Raphael's awful sing in the other. Somehow he had managed to accidentally get into the middle of the 'keep away' game and got clobbered. When he caught it, he accidentally hit play and that got the tape going.

Laughter broke throughout the lair. Leo leaned over, his right hand on his thigh while the left one smacked the other one. Don grabbed his stomach and fell to his knees, like someone had belted him, then bent over so his forehead was pressed into the ground. Mike, who had fallen on his back, was in a mixture of different laughs while rolling from side to side.

Meanwhile Raph was frozen with embarrassment. He didn't know what to do or what he wanted to do first. Finally coming to a decision, the red clad turtle marched over to Casey and snatched the recorder from human's hand. He contemplated throwing it at one of his brothers, but he couldn't decide which one would get the privilege of being bludgeoned and also figured it wasn't worth the extra punishment it would entail. So instead he did the next best thing, he put it on the floor and brought out the sledge-o-mantic he had bought from one of those infomercials he saw on TV.

* * *

_A/N: Ok, so I said that _This_ chapter was going to give Jeffery's story. But I let my mind wander, my fingers doing all the typing, and this is what I ended up with when I was done. So now I'm doing a three parter.  
Upon watching Dumbo, I heard the 'Casey Junior' song and thought it would make a cute funny tidbit to have in the story. And I know full well how bad the rewite of the song was, hence the self put down within the story; but do feel free to experss your feelings about it.  
So thanks for reading, until next time.  
By the way, the 'sledge-o-mantic' idea came from Galagher (The Watermelon Man)_


	10. Trouble That Brews Within The Family pt ...

**Trouble That Brews Within The Family (pt. 3)**

Now that the comedy act was over, April sent Casey over to the bathroom to help Jeffery finish cleaning up.

Realizing something, Michelangelo jumped to his feet. "Oh no." He squealed.

"What is it Mikey?" Donatello asked while wiping a tear from one of his eye.

A frightful cry came for the bathroom. "It's the Vigilantly!" Jeffery screamed.

"Der's a Purple Dragon in here!" Casey bellowed.

Leonardo gave his forehead a slight smack. "We for got to mention what Jeffery use to be." He muttered through the fingers that slid down his face.

"Your former owner was a Purple Dragon and you forgot to tell us that?" April questioned.

Before anyone could answer, Jeffery darted out of the bathroom. He had a towel wrapped around his waist and an angry Casey was hot on his heels. Terrified, the young man hid behind Mike. "I should have known that you were friends with that maniac."

"Whoa der Case, down boy." Raph said while he grabbed the hotheaded man by the arm.

"Ya didn't say nothin' about no Purple Dragon bein' yer owner." Casey complained.

"Former Purple Dragon." Jeffery, Michelangelo, and Donatello said in unison.

"Whatever." Raphael and Casey replied together.

"Former, current, it doesn't really matter anymore." Leonardo interjected. "He's here now so we might as well at least try to treat him like a guest." That commented caused Jeffery to roll his eyes and mutter something sarcastic under his breath.

"Alright." Casey grumbled as he wrenched his arm free from Raph's grasp. "But if he tries anythin' bad, I'm gonna to make him sorry he ever got dat tat."

Jeffery grabbed one of Mike's shoulders and spun the turtle around to face him. "You're not seriously going to leave me in the hands of that guy, are you?" He asked.

Michelangelo wrapped a comforting arm around Jeffery's backside and escorted the worried young man back to the bathroom. "Don't worry dude, Casey's ok." He assured him.

Jeffery looked at Mike with uncertainty for a moment or two. "Are you sure that he's not going to do something bad to me?" Mike nodded his head. "Ok." The young man gulped as he re-entered the bathroom.

Casey entered the bathroom and all was quiet for a second or so before Jeffery darted out once more; but this time he had a pair of baggy black pants on. "Don't send back in there with that lunatic." The young man cried while taking refuge behind Mike again.

"Now what?" Raphael groaned.

"I was just gonna ta give him a shave." Casey said as he walked back out of the bathroom carrying something long and white in his hand.

"He's got a switch-blade." Jeffery whimpered. "And he's going to cut me with it.

"A switch-blade?" Leonardo inquired. "Why would he bring something like that down here?"

April went over to the black haired man and holds her hand out. "Let me see that." Casey handed her the object he carried. "It's not a switch-blade, it's a straight razor." She said while examining it. "Quite old, but in good condition."

"With all the technology around, why would you still use a straight razor to shave?" Donatello asked.

"Why not?" Casey asked back. "Nothin' can cut closer den a bare blade."

"Yer more barbaric den I thought." Raphael teased.

"Bah." Casey waved a hand Raph. "Yer just not man enough ta use a man's razor, ya wimp."

Raphael put up a finger. "One, I'm a turtle." He added another one. "Two, I don't grow hair. Dork."

"Shell fer brains."

"No brainer."

"Guys, as much I would love to sit through one of your friendly spats," Leonardo cut in, "there are other things to take care of." He pointed over to Jeffery.

"I'm telling ya right now. There is no way I'm going to let that guy come near me with anything duller than a crayon." Jeffery warned.

"What about me?" April asked. "Would you be will to trust me?"

This was the first time Jeffery saw April. His eyes bugle almost out of their sockets and he lets out a high-pitched whistle. "Babe, I can trust you to do whatever you like." He said slyly.

Casey smacked Jeffery upside the head. "Don't ya speak ta her dat way." He grabbed the young man by the scruff of the neck and drags him back into the bathroom.

"This shouldn't take long." April said as she walked into the bathroom.

"Just don't take too much off." Jeffery's voice echoed out.

"Depends on if I can run a comb through that bush you call hair." The redhead replied. "I can't guarantee anything here."

**About An Hour Later**

The screaming finally stopped and an exhausted, yet happy, April comes out of the bathroom. "I'm no miracle worker, but I think he turned out ok." She said with a nod of approval. "To tell you the truth, I didn't think he would turn out so well."

"So let's see him." Michelangelo said excitedly.

"I'm not coming out." Jeffery shouted.

"Why not?" Michelangelo asked.

"Cause I look stupid." Jeffery answered.

"It can't be that bad." April said; feeling a bit insulted.

"That's what you think." Jeffery snapped.

Casey gave the young man a shove. "Get out der."

Jeffery stumbled out into open. His hair was slicked back into a point tail; the end of it reached the back of his neck. The once untamed facial hair was groomed into a small goatee. He wore a large white T-shirt loosely tucked into his black baggy pants and a pair of well-worn sneakers. The young man's bare arms were littered with needle and scratch marks.

"I look like a bad boy wanna-be from a boy band." Jeffery frumped.

"I think you look cute." April laughed while pinching the young man's cheek.

Jeffery swatted her hand way from him. "You sound like my mother on one of her good days." He grumbled.

"I'm tired of all the piece meal details here." Michelangelo threw an arm around Jeffery's neck, to lead the young man over to the T.V. area. "Let's hear what's been going on with you." The young turtle sat on the right side of the couch and encourages the young man to sit next to him. "How did you get into all this? What was family life like?" Jeffery heaved a sigh as he took the seat offered to him.

The rest of the group comes over to the area also. Splinter sits in his armchair with Leo kneeling beside it. Donatello joins the young man and turtle brother on the couch. Casey sits on the armrest next to Don while Raph took the one next to Mike. April has a seat in an armchair that was between Splinter's chair and the couch. All eyes rest on the young man, waiting for him to tell his story.

Jeffery tugged on the collar of his shirt. "You all really know how to put a guy on the spot, you know that?" He seemed a bit jittery, like he was shivering or something.

"Are you cold?" Master Splinter asked.

"No. I'm shaking because…" Jeffery hesitates suddenly. "…it's nothing." He blushed.

"So let's have it already." Raphael said impatiently while leaning forward a bit.

"Give me a chance." Jeffery said defensively. He took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and then cleared his throat. "Alright, it's like this. My dad is this bigwig businessman. Work was his life and family was just something to help him promote it.

As for my mom, well, she was the businessman's wife and a lady of society. She worried consitantly about how to look outside the house and inside. Public appearance meant everything to her. She wouldn't be caught having less than ten social dinners a month, each with a different meal and entertainment from the last. And there were also reporters littered about. If her party wasn't in at least three or four famous papers and a few society news, than the party was considered a bust. Everyone hired to do something was blamed. For weeks the household staff, the people who set up and did the entrainment, the caterers, even the clean-up crew were yelled.

Course those were on her good days. House staff couldn't stand her nitpicking ways for more than maybe a couple of weeks when she was like that. On her bad days, they were quitting every third day or so. (Raises his voice to be high-pitched) The fork is a sixteenth of an inch off. This lilac is a shade too bright and it sets off the others."

"Now what do you mean by good days and bad ones?" Leonardo asked.

"Mom had massive mood swings." Jeffery explained. "One minute or day she would be calm, the next…" he snaps his fingers, "deep depression or short temperedness." The young man heaved a heavy sigh. "Depending on whom she went to see and what her 'needs' were, she was either Bipolar or Manic Depressive." Jeffery gave a harsh laugh. "And her favorite chaser for her pills was hard liquor."

"That's bad, right?" Michelangelo asked. "You said that it was bad."

"Yeah…" Jeffery ran his fingers through what little hair hung down in front of his face. "But whenever I told her, I got smacked clear across the face." He gave a snort. "To think my birth was supposed to improve their lives."

"How did you know that?" Raphael asked.

"Cause my mom practically told me ever time she got drunk." Jeffery grunted. "(Slur high-pitch voice) You were supposed to be our little sunshine. You were supposed to bring joy into our lives. (Regular voice) The only thing I could see coming from my birth was more promotion for both my father's business and my mother's social life.

(Low-pitched, gruff voice) Family is the example of a good business.

(High-pitched) Oh, it's so hard being a society mother, but I don't complain. Only common folk look a gift like motherhood and popularity in the mouth.

"So what was life like?" April asked.

"Like a circus." Jeffery answered. "There was always something happening and usually it was something bizarre. At first it was cool and all. I mean who could object to watching people all dressed up in funny formal wear, dancing the night away to live music and getting presents for just being cute. But after having to watch what you do and what to say all the time, even in your own home, it gets so tiring. Soon you don't want to go anywhere anymore and just stay home to have a regular family dinner. The only problem was that dad wanted to work and mom needed to feed whatever problem she had at the time."

"So where exactly do we come in?" Raphael asked coldly.

"Raphael, patience!" Master Splinter ordered.

"I could never have pets in the house." Jeffery said. "Mom hated anything that crawled, slithered, or hopped and dad was allergic to anything with fur." A small smile crept on to the young man's face. "My best friend, Henry, owned a couple of adult turtles. He thought they were both males. Turns out that whoever 'looked' at them couldn't tell the difference and made a bad guess. Visiting his house was the only way to play with animals.

One day his female turtle laid a large batch of eggs. Henry was overjoyed, but his parents weren't. When the eggs hatched and the babies were old enough to be removed, Henry's parents ordered him to find a home for them all within a week or he'd lose the lot. I knew that they were giving an empty threat, but Henry didn't want to take any chances. He had his turtles a long time and he didn't want to lose them.

Unfortunately turtles were not very popular, so giving them away at school was a no go. He tried sitting on street corners and putting up signs, but only a few were taken. With the week coming to an end, Henry tried pet stores. Many stores couldn't take any of them, but we eventually found a place. Only thing was that the owner only had enough space to take all but four of the baby turtles.

Henry was frantic about the deadline coming up so soon. The owner felt sorry for him and said that there could be a place for the last four. Henry was so happy he bounced out of the store. I decided to follow slowly after so I could have a quick last look around before leaving. Good thing I did, cause that when I saw the owner dump three of the baby turtles into a cage as food for a snake and then head for the bathroom to get rid of the fourth one.

Before I knew what I was doing, I was stopping the owner from dumping Shelling…I mean, Michelangelo into the toilet.

'It's a runt.' The owner told me. 'It'll probably die within a day or so.'

'Then let me care for him until then.' I told the owner. 'What is it going to cost you anyway? You're just throwing him away anyway.' The owner was reluctant to give me Michel...Mikey, but eventually he did. 'And I want his brothers too.' I told the owner. 'The ones you're trying to feed to that snake over there.'

'And why should I give them to you?' He asked me.

'Again, what is it to you?' I asked the owner. 'You're not losing anything. If you want you can gain from this deal. I'm willing to pay for them.' I started pulling out money.

'Save it kid. If you want them so bad, you can have them.' The owner retrieved the other three just as the snake was coiling itself around one and gave them to me for free. 'Should have said something earlier when your friend was giving them away though.'

'I didn't know I wanted them until now.' I told him."

"So maybe this explains why I have a fear of snakes." Leonardo commented off-handedly.

"I didn't even know snakes could eat turtles." Raphael said in a musing tone.

"They probably can't. I bet the pet owner didn't even know that." Donatello replied. "I mean, what person would dump any animal down into the sewers anyway?"

"But you told your dad that Henry was going to throw us away." Michelangelo pointed out.

"I told him that so I could keep you guys." Jeffery explained. "If I told dad I took you from a pet store, he would have taken me right back to the store to return you all and I couldn't do that. It seemed like fate that I took you into my home."

"What makes you say that?" Master Splinter asked.

"Not long after taking in the four baby turtles, Henry and his family moved." Jeffery answered. "His dad's job was transferring into another state. His family had no other choice but go with them." He gave a small sigh. "The trouble with being a society brat is that other people don't like you. They think we're all snobs and that we like to flaunt who we are, so it was hard making friends in school. Henry was the one and only guy I ever knew that could look past to all that. He saw a boy desperate to have a friend and in need of having an ear to bend. I could turn to him for anything and everything. Adopting you guys help ease the devastating blow I received from his departure. Having you guys around was like having a part of him around too."

"Gads my sweet tooth is killin' me." Raphael razzed. He received a withering glare from everyone except Jeffery. "What?" The red clad turtle looked confused.

"Ignore him." Donatello said.

"So that's why you said we were the only friends you had when you lost us." Michelangelo brought up.

"Yeah." Jeffery nodded. "You guys really were the only friends I had left. You made life a whole lot easier for me around the house. When my mom and dad were ignoring me, I could always hang out with you. You wouldn't judge me or make me into something I wasn't. Losing you down the drainage was a more painful blow than when Henry moved away, cause then I knew I had no more friends."

"Is dat when yer youthful crime spree started off?" Casey asked coldly. "Ran off ta join da Purple Dragons and all dat."

"I didn't join till I was eighteen or nineteen." Jeffery replied just as coldly. "As for when I started being bad, I don't really remember when. I tried to be the goody-goody son that my parents wanted, but it just didn't seem right for me. I wasn't making any 'friends' until a bunch of my peers pressured me into go to the principle's office to steal back some confiscated items. Of course I was caught and my parents were called in for a meeting to decide what my punishment was." This time Jeffery let out a happy sigh. "That was one of the best highs I ever felt. For the first time in my life, I got attention and I knew how to get it. Good or bad it didn't matter to me, just as long as I got it. And the more I got the more I wanted.

After a couple years of doing kiddy stuff, like setting fires to trashcans and ripping off vending machines, I wanted to move into bigger stuff. Committing crimes and getting away with them became my new high. I no longer cared about getting attention from my parents, now I wanted to be on the news and in papers.

Through out those years my parents worried about me tainting their name, making them the laughing stock of both the business and social world. First they thought I had developed a mental disease, so they want me on medication for something I didn't have. After a long search, the finally found some quack doctor to prescribe me with something. But the stuff I was forced constantly to take made me drowsy and tired, like I was dragging my feet through tar or something.

Committing stuff had made me somewhat popular in school, so I had managed to make some 'friends'. Seeing me out of it all the time, they introduced me to something that would pick me up. It was there that I found that of all the highs I had ever experienced, being drug high was the best. Being unable to tell reality from delusions made my life a whole lot easier. If I didn't want to deal with my life, I just had to pop a pill or take a shot or inhale something.

One night, when I was out of my drugs of choice, I found my mother's prescription of Valium and a half bottle of cognac. I was still in the experimentally stage, so I tried that concoction of hers that she would make for herself ever night. Problem was that I took one too many pills and found myself in the hospital the next day with a tube in my stomach.

It was there that my parents discovered my habits and sent me to a rehab center for 'help'." Jeffery let out one of his harsh laughs. "In rehab you were forced to take some sort of medication that you could get addicted too if not careful and you had to talk about your feelings in group sessions.

And if that didn't make matters worse, I was also sent to a psychiatrist. A guy who scribbles in a notepad after asking you to talk about your mother. A guy who thinks he could get into your head by having you talk about your feelings. He didn't seem to get the fact that I grew up in an environment that expects you to be perfect while your mother drink herself to death and your father works himself into the grave. Two of the most important people in your life not care about whether your best friends moved away or were flushed down into the sewers, but think you're the one that is need help when clearly it is they who really need it."

"Feelin' resentful are we?" Raphael asked.

"Therapy only works when somebody listens to you and gives you intelligent advice back." Jeffery snapped. "It also works when everyone who needs it gets it." He took a deep breath to calm himself. "Going to rehab and the psychiatrist made me want to get a fix somewhere real bad. One day, when I wasn't being watched, I managed to escape the rehab center and to one of my local hook ups.

I had missed the stuff so bad that I kept pumping myself full of it till, for the second time in my life, I nearly O.D. After that my parents gave me an ultimatum, I was to go back to that he…shell-hole of a rehab center or never come home again."

"The papers said you ran away." Donatello mentioned.

"Run away?" Jeffery questioned. "Is that what they call it when parents throw their kids out these days?"

"So they threw you out?" Michelangelo asked.

"Not quite." Jeffery answered. "More like they tried to send me away, but I didn't go where I was suppose to."

"Where did you go?" Leonardo asked.

"While waiting at the bus stop to take me to some Teen Intervention group out in the middle of nowhere, I saw a bunch of guys with purple dragon tattoos robbing some place." Jeffery explained. "Seeing that made me want to join the fun. Before I knew it, I was fashioning one of them lovely tats." He ran his hand over the shoulder where his purple dragon tattoo was.

"Ya shouldn't be proud of havin' dat." Casey warned. "Bein' one of dem isn't somethin' ta boast about."

"Perhaps…but at the time they were the only family I seem to have and needed." Jeffery said. "I didn't learn about how disloyal they could be until about a year or so ago.

My habits started to rule my life more than I ruled them. The Purple Dragons got tired of feeding my addictions and putting up with my fits, so they set me up to get caught by the police at one of the robberies. I had enough contraband to send me up state for a long time. But I made a deal with the district attorney to get me off for ratting out the Purple Dragons. All I had to do was give away some hiding spots and where they stash their loot.

Doing that earned me a price on my head. Purple Dragons don't like to be sold out, especially by one of their own. It had been a rough year trying to feed my habits. Nobody wanted to do business with a marked man. But if I didn't get what I needed, I felt like I was going to die. I couldn't deal with reality and I couldn't deal with the lack of drugs in my system. Fortunately I was able to find a place where money talks pretty well, unfortunately they weren't always stocked. This left me looking like a manic on the streets whenever one of my withdraw fits came around. I never knew if that fit was going to be the one that will eventually kill me."

"Fits…" Michelangelo muttered. "You mean like the one you had in my room?"

Jeffery blushed. "Yeah…not one of my prouder moments."

"But withdraw can't really kill ya." Raphael sneered. "It's da drugs dat will do it."

"Obviously you don't know what it's like." Jeffery snapped.

"So what now?" Leonardo interjected.

"We could always try taking him back home to his parents." April suggested.

"No way." Jeffery stated sternly. "My parent didn't want me then, what makes you think they want me now?"

"He has a point." Casey agreed.

"Yer not helpin' here bone-head." Raphael retorted.

"I'm just bein' honest." Casey said defensively. "I mean, we did have ta clean out his room ya know."

"So what do you suggest we do with him?" Raphael asked.

"Hey, I don't know." Casey replied. "He's yer owner."

"Who happen to be here listening to people talk about him like he's some object." Jeffery cleared his throat to make himself more noticeable.

"Oh…sorry." Raphael rubbed the back of his head.

Casey did the same. "Ditto."

"So what do you suggest you should do?" April asked the young man.

"I…don't know." Jeffery replied with a shrug.

"How about finding a new way in life?" Michelangelo suggested. "Give up being an addict. Clean yourself up, travel down the path of the straight and narrow."

Jeffery gave the turtle with the orange bandanna a 'come-on' look. "Have a clue on how I can do that?" He asked. "I never graduated from high school and I don't have money to go to college with. How will I get a job with the kind of past I got?"

"Maybe we can help." April volunteered.

"We can?" Casey asked. "How?"

"For starters, we can give him a job so he can go to college." April replied. "I can help him pass his high school equivalence for a diploma."

"You wanna give him a job?" Casey asked dumbfoundedly.

"Why not?" April asked back. "Business is good enough to hire a second pair of hands, isn't it? We can afford to take him on." She turned to Jeffery. "What do you say? Want to give an honest life a chance?"

This took the young man by surprise. "Uh…" He looked over at Mike.

The orange clad turtle gave him an encouraging thumb up. "What could it hurt?"

"Nothing…I suppose." Jeffery answered. "But where will I stay?"

"How about with Casey?" Raphael suggested.

"What!" Michelangelo exclaimed. "Why can't he stay here with us?"

"Yeah." Casey said as he jumped to his feet. "Why should he come live at my place? My place is barely livable fer me."

"I'm sure that young Jeffery would prefer to live above ground rather than in the sewers." Master Splinter answered. "Mr. Jones's place would most adequate for him." Casey grumbled under his breath.

"Unless, of course, you want him to come live with me." April said slyly.

"Really?" Jeffery said excitedly while jumping to his feet.

"No." Casey shoved the young man back down on the couch. "I guess he could come live with me till he can get on his feet." He grabbed Jeffery by the arm and drags him to the elevator.

"Don't I get to vote on where I'll live?" Jeffery asked. "This is my life you know."

"Yeah, yeah." Casey grumbled as they entered the elevator. "Just shut up and let's go."

"Don't forget to come back and visit!" Michelangelo yelled. "I really want to get to know you and become friends again!"

"Sure." Jeffery replied while the doors of the elevator closed.

**Later**

(A phone rings) "911…what is the state of your emergency?"

"He just dropped ta da floor and………"

"Sir? What is happening?"

"I dunno know. He's just bouncin' around and stuff."

"Can you describe the victim?"

"Uh…white…twenty-four…twenty-five, I think…. He's foamin' at da mouth."

"Does he have a history of drug and alcohol use?"

"Yes…"

"Alright, hang on. I have a unit on route to you…. Attention all units…we have a young Caucasian male, mid twenties, seizing. Possible O.Ding. Location is ----. Please respond."

"This is unit ----, we're near that location. Should be there within a few minutes."

"Alright unit ----. Hello, sir?"

"Yeah?"

"I have a paramedic unit on its way, should be there with a few minutes or so. How is he doing?"

"His head started slammin' on the ground, but I managed ta get a pillow under it. He's body is still bouncin'."

"Is there any blood, cuts? Can you see his eyes?"

"No blood, no injuries. I can't see his eyes." (Sirens sounding faintly) "Der here. The paramedics are here."

"Alright sir. Let them deal with the situation."

"Of course, thanks."

(Sirens wailing…tires screeching to a stop…double doors thrown open.)

"What have we got?"

"Male, Caucasian, mid twenties. Was seizing. Convulsions stopped upon arrive here."

"What did you give him?"

"O2, ---, ---, ---."

"Do we have a name?"

"Not yet. The guy that knows him is coming here. He had to call up someone to join him here."

"We have no time to lose. Let's get him into a room. Nurse, wait here for his friend."

"Yes doctor."

(Sneakers squeaking on linoleum floor) "I'm here, I'm here. What's goin' on?"

"Doctors have taken him into a room. What I need is any information you have on him."

"His name is Jeffery Johnson."

"Jeffery Johnson! As in the son of Elijah Johnson?"

"Dat's right."

"Quick, pull up his record. He's got a history of O.Ding before."

"But he's not O.Ding."

"What?"

"He hasn't had anythin' all day."

"Do you know how long he's gone without anything?"

"I dunno know. Maybe just this day."

"Oh god. Quick, alert the doctors. Tell them the kid is withdrawing before they give him the wrong treatment."

"But I thought withdrawin' couldn't kill."

"It can if the body is de-toxicing too quickly. The shock could do a number of things to him. That's why rehab centers give addicts certain drugs, so they can slowly get their bodies back to normal."

(Sneakers squeaking) "Casey, what's going on?"

"I dunno know Ape. Somethin' about withdrawin' being fatal or somethin'."

"Will he be ok?"

"We won't know until the doctors come out. All you can do right now is sit and wait."

(Computer beeping, doctors and nurse conversing)

"Another push of ---."

(Phone rings) We got a call, it withdrawal."

"Alright, we need to…(flat line) Paddles quickly. Set at 50, get ready…clear!" (Electric shock, computer still flat lining) Start compressions, set paddles at 100… (Paddles recharging)…clear!" (Electric Shock echoing)

* * *

_A/N: Welp, that the end.  
_

_-Just kidding. But the ending is coming up soon. How will I end it? Will I kill him off or will I let him live? Guess you all are just going to have to wait to find out.  
_-_By the way, I don' t know a lot about medical terms and stuff, so that's why I didn't get so technical. Basically all my knowledge comes from what I see on T.V., but I have tried my best._

_Thanks for reading, until next time._


	11. It Can't End This Way, Can It?

_A/N: I had two ideas of how to end this story, but I couldn't decide which ending to go with. So then I thought, why should I be the one to chose? Why not let you, the readers, read whatever ending want.

* * *

_

**It Can't End Like This…Can It? ****  
****(Ending 1) **

**Hours later, in the ER waiting room…**

With arms crossed before him, Casey paced the floor. April sat in one of the chairs placed there. "Man!" The black haired man grunted when he stop moving to glare at the wall before him. "How could such a thin' happen?" He unfolded his arms and pounded the wall with two balled up fists and a forehead. "How could it happen now?" He asked as he leaned on the wall with his forehead still pressed against it.

"Don't think like that." April scolded. She rose from the chair and put a comforting hand on the distraught man's shoulder. "We should be thinking positively."

"Yeah, I know." Casey sighed. He pushed himself off the wall and turned around to face April. "It's just that…I dunno know. I have this fe…"

"Excuse me…. Ms. O'Neil? Mr. Jones?" A doctor dressed in the usual hospital garb appeared at the doorway to the room. His skin was tan, clean-shaven, and he had short salt/pepper hair.

"Yes?"

"Uh…yeah?"

"I'm Doctor Marcus. I'm one of the doctors that worked on Jeffery." The doctor said.

"He's going to be alright, isn't he?" April asked hopefully. "When can we go see him?"

"I'm afraid you can't…" Dr. Marcus heaved a heavy sigh as he ran his fingers through his hair. "We…lost him."

April turned pale. "What!" She started shaking so badly that she couldn't stand on her own anymore. Casey caught her just as her knees buckled and escorted her back to the chair she had originally sat in. "H…how?" The red head breathed.

"The seizure he was suffering from was a fatal one that most drug addicts have when they hadn't been using for a couple of days." Dr. Marcus explained. He opened a fold he was carrying. "According to the tox report, he hasn't been using in over a week." He pulled out an x-ray photo of a head from the folder. "But even if the seizure didn't kill him, the head trauma he acquired due to it would have." The doctor held the x-ray up to the light for Casey and April to see. "See there." Marcus pointed to a thin black line going down the middle of the skull. "Jeffery cracked his head pretty good. With the blood that entered the brain, he would have been brain dead in a matter of minutes."

"B…brain…dead?" April shuddered. Casey was too amazed at what was going on to make any comment at all.

Dr. Marcus gave a nod as he put the x-ray back into the folder. "Yeah..."

"How can we tell them?" April cried. "How can we even face them?" She covered her face with her hands. The tears that came from her eyes slid down her cheeks, down the palms of her hands, and dripped off her chin.

"Don't worry, I'll be the one to tell his parents." Dr. Marcus assured. "Just don't let anyone know that I gave you the news first. Really parents and/or family members are supposed to be the first to know."

Casey gave the doctor a nervous look. "Um…we weren't talkin' about his parents. We don't even know dem."

"Oh…well, I figure since you two were friends of his that…"

"Uh…we just met him today."

Dr. Marcus eyes grew wide. "Ok, this is awkward." He put a hand over his nose and mouth, blowing air through his fingers. After a second, he took the hand away and crosses his arms in front of him. "Alright…" The doctor said while bowing his head. "This conversation never happen and we never met." He said flatly. "If word of this gets out that I gave information to non-family member or friends of the family I could lose my job."

"Don't worry, our lips are sealed." Casey assured. Dr. Marcus gave a nod of approval before leaving the area at a very quick pace. The black haired man pulled the red haired woman up from her seat. "Come on…let's go." Supporting her, he escorted her out of the hospital and over to her van. Knowing that she is in no real shape to drive, he helped her into the passenger seat, put his bike in the back, and climbed into the driver's seat.

April stopped crying and was now staring at her dusty dashboard. Casey leaned his forehead on the arms he crossed on top of the steering wheel. For awhile the two sat in silence until it was interrupted by the light tapping of water drops hitting the roof of the van and sliding down the windshield, hinting that it was going to rain soon.

"How does it know?" Casey wondered quietly.

"How…does what know?" April asked in a scratchy voice.

"The sky." Casey replied. "How does it know when someone passed so dat it would rain? It's like it was cryin' or sumpthin'."

"How do you know that the sky is crying for him and not someone else?"

"Know someone else dat's passed?"

"Believe it or not, a person passes almost every second of the day. The sky doesn't cry for every one of them, does it?"

"Well…no, but…it just feels like it…don't it?"

This caught April by surprise; Casey was actually being logical for once. "I…I guess so." Not only had he made a point, but it was a valid one to boot. "So…" Breaking off April reached for a box of tissues she had stashed under her seat, dabs her eyes, and blows her nose.

Casey lifted his head off his arms and looked at her. "What?"

"Well…we have to tell them…." April sniffled. "We have to tell _him_."

"We shouldn't tell him." Casey sighed and April shot him a look. "I'm not disagreein' with ya." He said quickly. "I'm just sayin' we shouldn't be da ones ta tell him. It should be one of dem doing it. Maybe it should be Master Splinter…or Leo."

April nodded. "Yeah…I suppose it would be best hearing it from one of them." Once more that Casey had made another valid point.

Suddenly Casey pulled his hands from the steering wheel and ruffed his hair vigorously. "Dis is all too weird."

This caught April off guard briefly. "What is?"

"We don't even know da guy and we're upset over his death."

"I don't think we're upset over him. I think we're upset for the guys. No matter how small a part he was, he was apart of their lives. There's has to be some kind of bond between him and them."

"I suppose yer right."

"So…when should we?" April asked Casey, chancing that this intellectual roll of his was not coming to a quick end.

"In da morning would be best." Casey replied. "They're all probably in bed by now, no sense in wakin' dem up."

"I guess it would be best. But…" April gave a depressing sigh. "I don't think I can sleep now."

"Well…um…do ya wanna get some coffee or sumpthin'?" Casey asked nervously.

"Yeah…sure."

**Next Day**

"Donnie!" Raphael's voice hollered through the lair. "Fer shell sakes, will ya replace dat stupid song fer sumpthin' else?"

"But that song makes perfect sense for the Casey alarm." Donatello yelled back.

The elevator doors open to reveal Casey and April. "Boy don't you guy look worse for wear." Leonardo greeted.

"It's been a rough night." April said quietly. She smoothed her out of place hair as best she could.

Leonardo noticed her eyes were quite red and Casey's were a slight pink. "Is there something the matter?" The blue clad turtle asked.

Casey rested a heavy hand on Leo's shoulder. "Where is…um…Mikey?"

"In his room." Raphael answered. He let out a laugh when he joined the group. "He's cleanin' his room. Amazing ain't?" The red clad turtle walked around the two humans; examining them. "But what I'm wonderin' is what you two were up ta last night." He said slyly.

"We told you, we had a rough night." Casey answered sternly.

"It certainly looks that way." Donatello laughed. He and Leo joined Raph in looking at the two humans slyly.

"Look, sumthin' happen last night and we couldn't sleep. So we went to an all night coffee shop and den caught a few hours sleep in Ape's van." Casey explained.

"Oh yeah." Donatello said sarcastically. "That certainly clears things up."

"Probably went out into the van so Jeffery could get some sleep." Leonardo joked. Both April and Casey turned white. Casey's hand dropped from the blue clad turtle's shoulder. "What?" Leo looked from one human to the other. The black haired man turned his head away to avoid making eye contact and the red haired woman looked down at her feet.

"Mikey is in his room, right?" April asked in a quivering voice.

"Y…eah." Raphael cocked his head to one side. "What are ya hidin'?"

"This is goin' ta be really fer him…on him." Casey sighed. "Maybe fer you guys too."

"Come on Case, spit it out." Raphael ordered angrily.

"He's dead!" April blurted out.

"Who?" Raphael asked.

"Who?" Casey asked with surprise. "Yer owner, dat's who."

"Jeffery's…dead?" Leonardo asked slowly. Both humans nodded.

A deafening silence fell in the room. Nobody knew what to say, or even what to think. The sound of sliding doors broke the quietness and Master Splinter emerged from his room.

"I sensed a great sadness in this room." The elder rat said. Nobody looked at him. "I see, the boy?" Everybody nodded.

Again, there was silence. Eventually it was disrupted.

"How?" Donatello asked.

"He had one of dem seizure he said he had before." Casey replied. "It was a fatal one."

"This could devastate Mikey." Leonardo sighed.

"How?" Raphael asked. "We just met da kid yesterday."

"Cause Jeffery meant something to Mikey." Leonardo answered. "Some how Mikey developed a bond with him that we never did."

"So let's not tell him da kid is dead." Raphael said flatly.

"We can't do that." Donatello retorted. "How would we explain Jeffery not coming around to visit?"

"We could tell Mikey dat da kid ran away or sumthin'." Raphael replied.

"No." Master Splinter said sternly. "Michelangelo deserves to know what happen to his human friend." He ordered. "Such a thing cannot be hidden from him."

"So den who is goin' ta tell him?" Raphael asked coldly.

"Not you, that's for sure." Donatello answered just as coldly. "You obviously don't care."

"Gee, I wonder what gave dat away." Raphael replied sarcastically. "Are ya sayin' dat yer volunteerin' brainac?"

"Maybe Master Splinter should do it." Leonardo suggested.

"Naw, it should be me." Donatello responded.

"Why you?" Leonardo asked.

"Because I've been with Mikey since the whole thing began." Donatello answered. "I helped look Jeffery up, I helped find him, and I helped bring him home." He let out a deep sigh. "I should be the one to give him the bad news and bring this whole event full circle."

Master Splinter puts a hand on Don's shoulder. "You knew that the task you had taken was a hard one." He said calmly. "But what you are about to do is going to be even hard." The elder rat gave the purple turtle a brave smile. "But I know you have the strength to carry it out to the end." Splinter gave Don an approving nod. "Still, I will wish you luck."

Donatello gave a slight bow. "Thank you Master." He went over to Mike's door and knocks on it lightly. "Mikey?"

"Just a moment." Michelangelo sang. The door flew open and the orange clad turtle greeted his brother with a wide grin. "Come in, come in." He grabbed Don's arm and yanked him into the room.

"It's…it's clean in here." Donatello gasped. "You can actually walk around without stepping on anything." He walked around to look at the room. "Did you dust?"

"Uh-huh." Michelangelo nodded proudly. "And come look at my shelf full of trophies."

Donatello raised an eyebrow. "Trophies?"

"Yeah, see?" Michelangelo pointed to the far end of his room. "It's over there." He dragged Don over to it. "Here is a plank of wood from the water tower Master Splinter dropped on Shredder the first time we defeated him. And here is a chipped up statue from Shredder's building for the second time we defeated him."

Donatello still didn't understand. "Mikey, why did you display…?"

"To show Jeffery our many achievements over the years." Michelangelo answered brightly. "Oh, here is a rebar from the TCRI building to show the third time we defeated Shredder and that we save the Utrom from him. I've got to tell Jeffery it's because of them that we are who we are."

"Mikey, about Jeffery…" Donatello took a deep breath for courage. "He…"

"He's going to be so proud of me when he sees this." Michelangelo held up his glass pyramid trophy he got from the Battle Nexus tournament.

"Mikey." Donatello said sternly.

"I know, I know." Michelangelo waved a hand at his Don. "You guys are tired of me talking about it, but…" He picked up a cloth and polishes the glass object. "I was the runt of the family. I was weak and stuff, but Jeffery knew I was going to grow up to be strong and he was right. I mean, I have to be strong to beat the Battle Nexus tournament. I can't wait to see the look on his face when I tell him I proved him right"

"You can't do that Mikey." Donatello told his younger brother.

"What do you mean I can't?" Michelangelo exclaimed. "Are you saying that he's no longer allowed to come down here?" He started to get angry. "That's not fair. He's my friend, he should be allowed down here."

"That's not it." Donatello said defensively.

Michelangelo missed what Don said and continued to be angry. "April is your friend and she's allowed down here." He huffed. "Casey is Raph's friend and he's allowed down here."

"Mikey let me speak." Donatello ordered. "I have something I need to tell you and it's going to hard to take." He looked at his little brother with sad eyes.

Looking at his older brother, Michelangelo finally figured out that something was wrong. "I don't think I like where this is going." He said, dreading whatever Don had to say.

"Of course you're not." Donatello said sternly. "And if it were possible, you wouldn't have to." He inhaled deeply and lets it out slowly. "Jeffery is…gone."

"Gone?" Michelangelo asked. "Like run away gone?" Don shook his head. "Like…" Don nodded. "No…" Mike whispered. He lost hold of his glass pyramid trophy and it hits the floor, developing a crack in it. "He's not."

"Yes, he…"

"NO!" Michelangelo shouted while he covered his ears. "I can't hear you. La, la, la, la. I'm not listening."

Donatello grabbed Mike's face and looks his young brother in the eyes. "Listen to me." He yelled. "I know it's hard to believe, but it's true." Mike lowered his hands in time to hear Don say, "He's dead."

Those words echoed through Michelangelo's head. He couldn't believe it, he wouldn't believe it. "How could he be dead?" The orange clad turtle asked. "He was fine yesterday."

"It was from one of those seizure he was telling us about."

"You mean those fits he has when he's not doing drugs?"

"Yeah."

Suddenly it hurt to breath and Michelangelo wished that his mind would go blank so he didn't know what to think or to say. But it didn't, instead it was full of guilt. "My fault." The young turtle whispered.

Donatello saw the guilty look come onto his little brother's face. "What?"

In a disoriented daze, he broke away from Don's grasp and wondered out of his room; Don followed after him. Everyone was sitting in the T.V. area waiting to know how Mike was going to take the bad news. When they saw the orange clad turtle wondering lost about the lair, they ran over to find out what's the matter.

"Mikey?" Leonardo whispered.

"It was me…" Michelangelo continued to mumble. "My fault."

"What in da shell are ya talkin' about?" Raphael asked.

Michelangelo looked at his red clad brother with tears in his eyes. "I killed him. I killed Jeffery."

Donatello couldn't believe what he was hearing. He grabbed Mike by the shoulders to make his young brother look at him once more. "You? How could you think that you killed him?"

"I talked him into coming clean." Michelangelo whimpered. "He said that without drugs in his system he could die from those fits and he did."

"But you can't blame yourself." Donatello said soothingly. "Just cause you asked him to quit doesn't me that what killed him."

"But without the drugs, he couldn't…" Michelangelo started rubbing away streams of non-stopping tears.

April gentle put her arms around Mike's neck and leaned her head on his shoulder. "It wasn't you who killed him." She said comfortingly. "The doctor said he had been clean for a week."

"Yeah." Casey butted in. "I bet he was just thinkin' of makin' changes in his life. Ya just gave him a helpin' hand."

"But he's gone now." Michelangelo sobbed. "I'll never get to tell him how well I…we…turned out. I'll never get to thank him for giving me a chance to have a life."

"Thank him for a chance in life?" Raphael exclaimed. "What are ya talkin' about?"

"He believed in me Raphie." Michelangelo cried. "I was weak, might not live, but he never gave up on me." Then he gave Raph a glare. "And if it wasn't for Jeffery, you three would have been snake chow."

"Whatever." Raphael snorted.

As sudden as it was to hurt to breath, as sudden as it was to cry, Michelangelo felt an amount of anger build up inside of him. For no reason, he wanted to lash out at anyone and everyone around him. He wanted to express his pain and anger by yelling, screaming, breaking things into a millions of pieces.

Fearing he would actually hurt someone in his rage, Michelangelo broke away from Don and April. When someone else tried to reach out to him, he swatted their hands away. Feeling surrounded and smothered, the young turtle ran out of the lair. He just wanted to be a lone.

"Do you think he's going to be alright Sensei?" Leonardo asked.

"Maybe someone should shadow him, in case he might do something reckless." Donatello suggested. "Or get himself into trouble."

"He will be fine." Master Splinter assured. "For now, let him have time alone to sort out his thoughts." Before heading for his room, the elder rat looked at his three sons. "I'm going to meditate. I want you three to go patrol the sewers."

"Yes master." The three turtles answered in unison and they gave their master a bow.

"I guess I'll take April home and then go home myself." Casey said.

"Yes, you two should try and get some more sleep." Master Splinter replied. "I appreciate all the help you have given us."

"Of course Master Splinter." April nodded. "I…I'm sorry for your lost." She said to the turtles.

It was at this point that the turtles realized that they really didn't know how they felt about all this and they weren't really sure what their reaction should be. Of course they were sorry Jeffery was dead, but were they sad that he was gone? Sure Raph did his best to show he did not care, but deep down he was just as confused about it as his older brothers.

"Thank you." Master Splinter replied for his sons. After he gave a slight bow, he entered his room.

Casey walked April into the elevator to take her home. Leo, Raph, and Don exited the lair by the 'front door' to patrol the sewers like their master ordered them to.

Now that the lair was empty, the doors to Splinter's room open again and the elder rat emerges back out of his room. He looks around to make sure that there wasn't anyone lingering around before he, himself, left the lair in the search for Mike. Splinter knew after his alone time, the young turtle would want some he could talk to, someone who could relate.

It really didn't take Master Splinter long to locate his son. Knowing Mike liked nature, it was only natural that the young turtle would be in Central Park. Because of the rain from last night and the threat that there was going to be more, not a lot of people were out in the park. Splinter found Mike sitting up in a tree over looking the lake where a couple of children, dressed in raincoats, were playing with a sailboat. Deciding to wait for the best time to approach his heavy hearted son, the elder rat parked himself in a tree not too far away to watch for Mike to give the right sign.

After a couple hours pass, the children were collected up by their loving parents who had promised them hot chocolate when they got to their nice dry home. In their excited haste to leave, the children accidentally leave their sailboat behind. Because he had been watching all this time, Michelangelo jumps down from his tree to pick up the sailboat. He was going to chase the family down through the trees and leave the boat where they could easily find it, but something stops him from doing so.

There was something about seeing the boat on the water triggered something in his mind. He looked around to see if any other humans were going to be coming around, but it didn't look like any were because of the ever threatening sky. Satisfied that it would be safe to stay, Michelangelo put the boat back into the water and sat down to stare at it.

"Remembering something my son?" Master Splinter said as he slowly approached Mike.

"Yeah…" Michelangelo let out a depressed sigh. "I was remembering a time when Jeffery took us down here to the lake and put us on one of his model sail boat he put together himself." A small smile came onto the young turtle's face. "It was a huge boat that had taken him months to build. There were like twenty sails on it and the deck was huge. I was first mate Shelly of the J.J. Turtilion." As quickly as it came, the smile soon faded away. "Master…?

Master Splinter kneeled next to Mike and watches the sailboat drift on the water with him. "Yes my son?"

"How long will it take before the pain and memories go away?"

"They will never go away."

"Oh…"

"But the pain will ease in time and the memories will help make your feel better. You mustn't forget your memories. It's what keeps the people we cherish most alive in our hearts."

"You think about Master Yoshi a lot, don't you?"

"Yes."

"And it makes you sad, don't it?"

"At times it does. But sometimes it makes me happy."

"Do you think I'll ever become that way?"

"As I've said before, it will take time."

"Thanks…father."

"For what?"

"For…just being here."

"You are welcome my son."

**

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**

_A/N2: That's right, I killed him...or did I? Remember, there is still other ending you can read. Since this is the sad ending, then that has to mean the other one is a happy one...right?  
Thanks for reading, until next time._


	12. It Can't End Like This, Can It?

_A/N: Ok folks, it's time to dry those tears and excerise you eyes, cause you're not going to believe the twist I put into this ending. (Unless this is the first ending you read, then just excerise those eyes.)

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_

**It Can't End Like This…Can It?**

**(Ending 2)**

"Jeffery?"

"Mmm…five more minutes mom."

"I'm not your mother. Come on, wake up."

"But I'm so tired."

"That's just the drugs."

"Drugs? No way, I gave those up. I'm clean now."

"Yeah, we know that. That's why you're here."

"Here? Where is here?"

"Open your eyes."

Jeffery slowly opened his eyes. "Bright." He groaned while shutting them tight again.

"Come on now, don't wimp out."

Jeffery slowly opened his eyes again and looks around the room when they finally adjusted to the sunlight coming in through his window. "Hospital? Why am I here?"

"You had a seizure and were brought in by an ambulance a couple days ago."

"A couple days ago?" Jeffery looked over to see who was talking to him.

A man in his mid-twenties was sitting next to him. "During your seizure you hit your head and developed a concussion." He had short light brown hair, brown eyes, tan colored skin, and a clean-shaven face

Jeffery looked at how the man was dressed. "So they figured that I would never wake up and called in a priest to give me last rights." He coughed. "Hate to tell you this, but I'm an atheist."

"You were always a negative person Jiffy." The young man laughed. "But just because I'm dressed like this doesn't mean that I'm here for that."

"Jiffy…" Jeffery's face looked like he was searching his mind for something. "I haven't been called that in a long time."

"What's it been now? Fourteen years?" The young man asked the sick one.

"Fourteen…years?"

"Since you have been called Jiffy. You do remember why I called you that don't you?"

"Because…I liked peanut butter so much?" Jeffery's eyes lit up. "Henry?" He tried to sit up, but he ached all over.

"Whoa, easy there." Henry jumped up from his seat to keep Jeffery laying down. "You've had quite an experience."

"Feels like I've had a shell of an experience." Jeffery laughed. "It's good to see ya man."

"Shell of an experience?" Henry asked with a cocked eyebrow. "Where did you get a phrase like that?"

"You'd think I was crazy if I told you." Jeffery smirked. "Like it was some delusion I was having. Cause to tell you the truth, I think that's what it was."

"I'm a priest." Henry assured the sick young man. "I've learned not to judge people."

"How did you become one of those?" Jeffery asked. "Last I knew, you were going to be a space doctor and try to get into NASA."

"Things change." Henry shrugged. "One day, I'm sitting in a classroom in college, learning the human body and the next I'm signing up to go volunteer myself out in countries that really need doctors."

"Still doesn't explain why you became a holy man."

"As a doctor I could heal the body, but not the spirit. How do you heal a heart broken mother when she loses another one of her children? How do you comfort a husband who just lost a wife? How do you put someone who is afraid of dying at ease?"

"So you're saying that religion is the best medicine."

"For some, yes. You can't be afraid of something if you are ready to welcome it. You can't hurt forever if you know that those you love are in a better place. But before I go off on some crusade in other counties, I figured I'd best try fixing my own first."

"But your not here to try and convert me, are you?" Jeffery looked at the young man skeptically.

"No." Henry laughed. "I'm here as a friend."

"How did you know I was here?" Jeffery asked.

"You remember my little sister Jasmine?"

"Yeah. I use to pull her pigtails and we use to run away from her when she wanted to tag along with us."

"Well, she never gave up her dream of learning medicine. She's a nurse and is working on becoming a doctor. As luck would have it she happens to work here. She was one of the people working on you in the emergency room. When she found out who you were, she called me right away to come see you."

A woman in her early twenties appeared at the door. "Hiiii." She had long bushy brown hair, hazel eyes, her skin was also tan, and she had a bit of a slim figure. "So you're finally awake." The young woman entered the room. At the moment she was dressed in gym clothes, a gym bag hanging from one shoulder held her nursing outfit.

"J…Jasmine." Jeffery stuttered. "Wow, you certainly changed."

"No longer the ugly duckling I once was." Jasmine laughed as she swept over to the bed. "But you…" Her smiling face turned into a glare and she punched Jeffery in the arm.

"Ow!" Jeffery squealed. He looked at her like she was nuts. "Whatchya do that for?

"How could you do this to yourself?" Jasmine scolded. "I've seen you're record. You been in the hospital many times for near fatal overdoses and gang fights." She gave him another punch, this time on the shoulder where his purple dragon tattoo was. "And you joined them. How could you?"

"Geez, don't hold back why don't you." Jeffery frumped as he rubbed his sore shoulder.

"Someone has to knock some sense into you." Jasmine said. "Whatever happened to your dream of becoming a policeman or firefighter? Cause I'll tell you this much, this is far from ever going in that direction."

"What do you want me to say?" Jeffery snapped. "I messed up my life. I let my parents' actions affect me and I took the wrong road. For the longest time I couldn't figure out how to get back onto the right one, but now I am and I'm going to stay that way."

"Well…at least you admit you knew you were doing wrong and you're going to try to change your ways." Jasmine leaned over to look Jeffery in the face. "But I'll be watching you. If you even stray a little back onto the bad road, I'm not going to be as easy on you as I have."

Jeffery's head was pressing deep into his pillow so that he could have at least a little space between him and Jasmine. "Understood."

"Good." Jasmine stood back up and gave a sharp nod. "I've got to get ready for work." The young woman headed for the door. "I'll be back to check on you." And out of the room she walked.

"Man, can she hit." Jeffery groaned. "Those punches really hurt."

"She's taken up kick-boxing." Henry explained. "But you can't really blame her. After all, she does live in New York." A sly smile came onto the young priest's face. "You do know she has a crush on you."

"You mean had." Jeffery corrected. "I think I squished that when I cut off one of her pigtails. Besides, she _had_ to have found other guys that are way better than me to fall for."

"Yeah." Henry nodded. "But when she saw you in here, she told me she fell in love all over again."

"Bah. What would she find in a has-been like me?"

"Don't sell yourself short. I'm sure there still some qualities still left in you somewhere."

**A couple days later**

Henry, dressed in a grey gym suit, was standing next to the curtain that surrounds the bed. "Your parents still haven't been by to see you, have they?" He asked while waiting for Jeffery to finish changing into the clothes he brought him. Jeffery was cut out of the ones he wore.

"Are you kidding?" Jeffery snorted from behind the curtain. "I think they were hoping I'd die here so I wouldn't be around anymore."

"Don't talk like that. They'll come around sooner or later."

"Are you for real? They weren't even there for half my life, what makes you think they'll want to get back into it?"

"You'll never know."

A light knocking grabbed the attention of both young men. At the doorway were Casey and April. "We're not interrupting anything are we?" She asked.

Jeffery threw open the curtains. "So it wasn't a dream. They really are real." He was dressed in a black gym suit.

"Who?" Henry asked.

"Oh man, you are _so_ not going to believe this." Jeffery said excitedly.

Casey rushed over to Jeffery and smacks the young man up side the head. "Dude, what do ya think yer doin'?" A shocked look came on to April's face.

"What do you think _you're_ doing?" Henry asked sternly as he jumped in front of Casey. "What right do you have to hit him?"

"Guys, it's ok." Jeffery said while he waved his hands to calm everyone down. He looked over at Casey. "Relax. This is my best friend, Henry." Then the young man turned to his friend. "This is Casey and the woman over there is April. Their friends of some other friends that you…kinda know."

"Oh?" Henry cocked his head to one side as he tried to figure out whom Jeffery was talking about.

"I really don't think you should be talking about this." April said.

"Don't worry. Believe it or not he's a priest." Jeffery assured the young woman. "If anyone could keep a secret, it's a priest." He grabbed Henry's sleeve and pulled the young man with him as he went out of the room. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Henry asked as he was being dragged along.

"To show you what I'm talking about." Jeffery explained. "If I just told you, you wouldn't believe me." The two men exit the hospital with Casey and April following right after them. "Where are you parked?" Jeffery asked April.

April looked at Casey, who shook his head, and then she looked at Henry. After a moment, the red head nodded. "Alright." She waved at hand to have them follow her. "My van is over this way."

Jeffery gave April a thumb up. "Thanks."

"Yer sure about dis?" Casey asked as the group headed for the van.

"Yeah, actually." April nodded. "Something about that guy tells me that he's ok. Besides, if this is the Henry that Jeffery said was the owner of the turtles that were the parents of our turtles…maybe he should meet them."

"Geez…" Casey looked kind of confused. "So does dat make him like some kind of grandparent or sumpthin'?"

"I wouldn't think grandparent." April answered. "But he's some kind of relation to them."

"Grandparent? Relation?" Henry questioned. "To whom?"

"You'll see when we get there, man." Jeffery patted Henry on the back. "You'll see when we get there."

**At the lair…**

"Donnie, I'm warning ya. If ya don't change dat stupid song fer sumpthin' else, I'm goin' ta permanently silence dat alarm." Raphael threatened from his seat on the couch.

"You do and I won't fix your game consoles anymore." Donatello threatened back from his computer.

Michelangelo came rushing out of his room. "It's about time they got here." He panted. "They said that they would finally get to go in to see Jeffery, so now I get to hear what going on with him."

"You know Mikey, no news is sometimes good news." Leonardo told his young brother. He and Master Splinter were in the center of the lair, working out.

"Yeah, well, getting no news isn't good for me either." Michelangelo replied. "Ever since I heard Jeffery was in the hospital, I haven't slept a wink."

The elevator doors opened to reveal four humans in the elevator. April and Casey were the first to leave. Jeffery was immediately glomped onto by Michelangelo when he exited. "Dude, I was so worried about you."

"Hey, I'm alright." Jeffery assured the young turtle.

Donatello had come over from his computer to pry his little brother off the young man. "But you'll put him back in the hospital if you continue to hug him so tight."

The last one to come out was Jeffery's friend, carrying something under a blanket. It was rectangular and it seems to take up both his arms.

"Who is this?" Master Splinter asked, casting a cautious eye upon the new human as he moved towards the group with Leo following behind him.

"This is Henry." Jeffery announced. "I brought him down here to meet you guys."

Raphael did a back flip over the couch and marches right over to get into Jeffery's face. "Ya just can't go out and brin' people ta our home." The red clad turtle scolded.

"But this just isn't any old person." Jeffery said in defense. "This is my best friend. The owner of your parents."

At first Henry was so stun by the sight of four huge turtles and a giant rat, he nearly drop what he carried. But what Jeffery said shocks him, as well as the turtles and their rat master.

"What in the world are you talking about?" The young priest asked with surprise while he set the rectangular object down.

Jeffery turned to face his friend. "Remember those baby turtles I took from the pet shop?"

"No." Henry whispered. "Are you saying that these guys are those turtles?"

"Yup." Jeffery said proudly. "This one right here," the young man pushes Mike in front of Henry, "is Shellington."

"That teeny tiny little turtle turned into this?" Henry asked as he stared at the turtle in front of him in disbelief. "You were right, I wasn't going to believe you if you told me about all this."

"Wild, isn't it?" Jeffery replied.

Michelangelo squatted down in front of the rectangular object by Henry's feet. "So what's under the blanket?" He asked curiously as he poked at it.

"I think this is going to be a little bit weird for you guys." April warned.

"Yeah, it was fer us when we found out." Casey added.

"Ya mean…?" Raphael looked at April and Casey with raised eyebrows, then he looked Jeffery in shocked criticism.

"Whoa, easy there." Jeffery said defensively. "This is a bit awkward, but I thought you might want to…see your parents?" He bent down and pulled away the blanket to show two pet turtles in an aquarium. "I figured that you would at least like to see how they were doing."

Carefully, Michelangelo picked up the aquarium and holds it up in the air. "Wow…" He gasped. "So this is what they looked like."

Leonardo shook his head in disbelief. "Too weird."

Donatello turned his head sideway to look at the glass aquarium. "Amazing…sorta."

"Can…can I hold them?" Michelangelo asked timidly as he put the aquarium back down on the floor.

"Uh…yeah. Sure." Henry bent down and reached in to pick up one of the turtles. "This one is Zaphod…" He handed the male turtle to Mike, who he gently held him his hands. "And this one is Trillian." Henry said while he picked up the other one and held her out for one of the other turtles to take.

Surprisingly enough, it was Raph who took the female turtle and cradled her gently in his arms. "What are ya all lookin' at?" He snarled when he saw everyone staring at him.

"Nothing." Leonardo turned his focus to the one Mike held.

"So you named them after Douglass Adam's characters." Donatello asked the owner of his parents.

"Yeah, he's great isn't he?" Henry replied.

"Jeffery told us that you are a priest." April said to the young man. "How is that going?"

"It has its ups and down." Henry sighed. "My hope isn't really to convert the world over to one religion, just try and see if I can help get everyone on the right track. You know the whole 'thou shall not steal' and 'thou shall love thy neighbor', stuff like that."

"A worthy challenge to take, I'm sure." Master Splinter said respectfully to Henry.

"It's my turn to hold Trillian now." Donatello demanded. "You've had her for a while." He reached out for the turtle his red clad brother held.

"I'm not done yet." Raphael retorted.

"Here, you can take Zaphod." Michelangelo held out the turtle he was had. "That way I can hold Trillian after Donnie."

"What about me?" Leonardo quipped. "When do I get to hold one of them?"

"Give Leo Zaphod and let me hold Trillian a little bit longer." Raphael told his little brother.

"Now dis is da first time I've ever seen children argue over holdin' der own parents." Casey joshed.

"Well I'm putting an end to it." Master Splinter said sternly. "Raphael, you give Trillian to Donatello and Michelangelo, you give Zaphod to Leonardo." He ordered.

Reluctantly, Raph gave the female turtle to Don and Mike gladly gave Leo the male turtle.

April leaned over to Henry's ear. "So are you going to try and get Jeffery back with his parents?" She whispered.

"I can try, but I think that this is a rift that he will have to fix on his own." Henry replied. "I think that when he's ready he can do it." The young priest added with confidence. He looked at how Jeffery interacted with the turtles. "As for right now, having all his friends back in his life is just what he needs to help him stay on the right path in life."

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_A/N: I know the questions that are going through your mind right now. Do you think he'll get back together with his parent? Will he stay in contact with the turtles? Well...I think you'll just have to wait until next chapter, won't ya?  
Thanks for reading, until next time._


	13. Where Some Parents Evolve, Others Do Not

**Where Some Parents Evolve, Other Do Not  
(Continuation of Ending 2)**

Though it was hard, but felt right, Henry left his pet turtles down in the sewers with the mutant turtles for a while.

"I still think it's weird dat we're takin' care of our parents like dey were pets." Raphael commented as he placed a bowl full of fruit and vegetables in the aquarium.

"I know." Donatello agreed. "But what can we do about it?"

"Well…can't we like, I dunno, mutant them or something?" Michelangelo asked.

"How?" Leonardo asked back. "There isn't any mutagen around."

"That stuff was made accidently by the Utrom when they were making the transmat." Donatello reminded his brothers. "And they used the transmat to go home."

"What about Professor Honeycutt or Leatherhead? They both lived with the Utroms. Maybe they might know how to make the green ooze." Michelangelo suggested.

"That true." Donatello said with a nod.

"But what about Master Splinter?" Leonardo asked. "If we somehow manage to mutate our parents, what will become of him?"

"We're not going ta dump him Leo." Raphael assured his elder brother. "Think about it. If things turn out ok between him and dem, we could all live ta-gether."

"That would require a bigger place." Michelangelo pointed out. "Maybe we could trade places with Leatherhead or Donnie could find us another place."

"Guys, aren't we getting a little ahead of ourselves here?" Donatello asked. "First thing's first, lets see if we can even get any mutagen."

"So let's get started already." Michelangelo said excitedly.

"Ya make it sound easy." Raphael commented. "But where should we start?"

"Well I can contact Professor Honeycutt and have him meet us over at Leatherhead's place. With their two heads together, we might get some idea of how the stuff is made." Donatello suggested.

"Sounds as good a plan as any." Leonardo sighed. "Let's do it."

**At Leatherhead's place**

"Ah, my turtle friends." Leatherhead greeted. "To what do I owe such a visit?"

"L.H. we need yer help." Raphael told the large alligator.

"Of course. What is it that you need?" Leatherhead asked.

"Well, we figure that between you and Professor Honeycutt, mutagen could be made." Donatello said.

"Mutagen? Why are you trying to make that for?" Leatherhead asked.

"It's like this, we have found our parents and we want to mutant them." Leonardo explained.

"I see." Leatherhead nodded.

"But you can help us, can't you?" Michelangelo asked hopefully.

The large humanoid alligator watched Mike's eyes grow wide as an added an affect to his plea. "We can most certainly try." Leatherhead answered.

"That's all that we ask." Leonardo told them.

"Greeting my terrapin friends." Professor Honeycutt said as he entered the home of Leatherhead. "I have received your message, what is that you need my help for?"

"If ya showed up a few minutes earlier, ya coulda saved us from havin' ta repeat ourselves." Raphael snorted.

"Be nice Raph." Leonardo scolded.

"Oh dear." Professor Honeycutt sighed. "I am sorry."

"Do not worry my friends. I will explain everything to him." Leatherhead assured the turtles as he pulled the fugitoid off to the side.

"What is it that our friends need?" Professor Honeycutt asked.

"They want to know how to make mutagen." Leatherhead told him.

"What for?"

"To mutate their parents."

"They have found their parents?"

"Apparently."

"Oh dear, this is not good."

"I agree, but I cannot seem to say no do them."

"But do they know of the risks? Pet turtles can only live to up to thirty-five years, forty at the most. If we can make mutagen and mutate them, they will be seniors."

"That is, if they can survive the mutation. And that's not the only thing to worry about."

"I know. So what can we do?"

"I do not know how we can explain the situation to them. Maybe we should take this up with Master Splinter."

"Yes, that would be best. All though, I do hate to turn on them like this."

"What else can we do?"

"Yes, what else can we do?"

"I have told Honeycutt what you ask." Leatherhead told the turtles as he and the fugitoid come back to them. "He is also willing to make an attempt, but we'll need a lab. Perhaps we can go back to your place and use Donatello's?"

"Sure you guys can." Donatello replied.

"This is going to be so cool." Michelangelo exclaimed happily.

Leatherhead and Honeycutt looked at each other nervously.

**At the lair…**

While Professor Honeycutt pretended to access his memory bank to see if he could find the recipe for the mutagen, Leatherhead snuck off to Splinter's room. "And so you see predicament that we are in."

"Yes Leatherhead. I understand." The elder rat nodded. "I will talk to them."

"I wish we could mutate their parents, but I fear the risk is too high." Leatherhead sighed.

"It is alright." Splinter assured the large alligator. "Really my sons should not have put you and the Professor in such a spot, but then again, I do not blame them for trying." The two beings exit the master's room. "My sons, come here a minute."

"Yes master?" The four turtles asked as they kneeled before the elder rat.

"It has come to my knowledge that you wish to mutate your parents." Master Splinter said. "And though it graves me to tell you this, I feel I must. You can not do such a thing."

"But why not?" Michelangelo asked.

"Because they are old." Master Splinter told him. "Older than I was when I was mutated. If you mutate them, they will look older than I do now and to do so will also throw their lives into chaos."

"How?" Raphael asked.

"They have lived their whole lives in a glass aquarium." Master Splinter explained. "They know nothing of the world. Although they are old, their minds will be like that of a newborn babe. It will take them years that the do not have to try and adapt."

"I…I never thought of that." Donatello admitted.

"I know it's weird to see your parents as just pet turtles, but I think it would be difficult for you if you saw them as helpless seniors."

"Could it really be that bad?" Michelangelo asked. "Maybe we could help them adapt or take care of them."

"Mikey, do you remember watching those shows that show what it's like in a poorly run senior rest home?" Donatello reminded his youngest brother. "Do you remember what those people looked like? I think that's what Sensei is trying to shield us from."

"I guess." Michelangelo frumped.

"And you have to think about their dignity too." Leonardo added. "I mean, it would be pretty dishonorable to be made to look like that."

"I suppose you're right." Michelangelo sighed. "But it was nice to hope."

"I am sorry my sons." Master Splinter said gravely.

"As am I." Professor Honeycutt said sadly.

"I am also." Leatherhead sighed.

**Meanwhile, above ground…**

Jeffery, dressed in a brown gym suit, stood at the front gates of his home. "I don't think I can do this Henry." He said nervously. "What if…"

"There is no need to rush. Take your time." Henry said soothingly. He was dressed in his priest outfit. "If you do not wish to go in now, there is always next time."

"It's just that it feels like it has been so long."

"You ran away when you were what…eighteen? And now you're twenty-five, it's been seven years."

"Yeah. Seven years of not reminding them of how much a disappointment I was."

"Now what did we talk about talking negatively?"

"Yeah, yeah. Everyone makes mistakes. Blah, blah, blah." Jeffery inhaled deeply. "Ok, I think I'm ready." The two men pushed open the gate and entered the front area. As they neared the door, Jeffery got more and more nervous. "On second thought, I not. Let's go."

"Oh no you don't." Henry grabbed his friend by the arm. "You made the commitment. Now you should see it through."

"But I changed my mind. I just wanna get out of here." Jeffery tried to pull his arm free, but the young priest kept a tight hold on it. "What do you do, lift weights or something?"

"When I'm not out saving the world or trying to reunite parents with their children." Henry joshed.

"What if everything turns ugly or something?" Jeffery asked. "I mean, what if the police are called into this?"

"Why do you think I'm dress in my work clothes?" Henry pointed out. "You think I did this to make a fashion statement?"

"You have quite an attitude there." Jeffery commented. "Are you sure you're a priest? I mean, with comebacks and lifting weights..."

"Call me new age." Henry replied. "I think it's only right to show that even holy men can still be human." He pushed Jeffery up to the front door. "Now how about giving that knocker a good knocking?"

"O-k." Jeffery breathed. With a trembling hand, the young man grasped the ring of the door knocker and light taps it on the door. "Welp, nobody home. Let's go." Again, Jeffery tried to leave for the gate.

"You call that a knocking?" Henry exclaimed. The young priest grabbed the door knocker and rapped loudly on the door. "That's what I call a knocking."

Jeffery freaked. "But someone might hear you."

"And you used to call yourself a Purple Dragon." Henry teased. "What happed to all that bravery?"

"I left it at the gate, along with my sanity." Jeffery replied.

"Who's there?" A woman's voice called out.

"Father Bryson." Henry answered.

"Father Bryson?" The woman peeked through a window on the door. "Are you looking for donation?" She asked. "Cause if you are, you're going to have to wait till I get my checkbook. A good socialite can't be snubbing the church."

"No, no." Henry replied. "I'm believed I have found something that belongs to you, Mrs. Johnson." He yanked his friend in front of him.

"Oh my…it can't be." The woman's face disappeared from the window and the door is thrown open. "Is that my baby?" She grabbed Jeffery's cheeks. "It is. My baby has come home." The woman squealed.

"Mom…your hurting my cheeks." Jeffery said as best he could while his cheeks were being stretched.

"But it has been so long since I've seen you." The woman cooed as he squished his face. "And you look as cute as ever."

"Sarah, who was that at the door?" A man yelled.

"Oh no…" Sarah breathed. "It's your father. I can't let him see you." She panicked. "He's been so angry since the company forced him into early retirement and he blames you for that."

"But he was bringing in so much money, even when I was bad." Jeffery muffled though his still squished cheeks. "Why would they do that to him?"

"It hasn't gotten through his thick skull that he's getting old and that younger people are jumping in these days." Sarah explained. "But he still thinks it all your fault." She finally let go of his cheeks.

"Do you blame me for anything?" Jeffrey asked.

"No." Sarah put a finger to her chin. "You're antics haven't done anything to ruin my life. In fact, come to think of it, you've gotten me to kind of wake up."

"I did?" Jeffery laughed. "How?"

"Well, when you ran away, I started wondering why you did so." Sarah told him. "Then I realized that…I haven't been treating you as well as I should." She admitted embarrassingly. "Really, I'm surprised that social services haven't been called and you taken away." The elder woman heaved a heavy sigh. "I think it would have done a lot a good to be placed in a better home than this." She waved her hands. "Anyway, I've given up my bad habits and am sober for almost six years.

"I'll be clean going on…." Jeffery counts on his fingers, "almost two weeks."

"Sarah!" A man came up behind the woman. "I asked you who what at the door. The least you could do was answer me." He looked past the woman at the priest before his eyes settled on Jeffery. "You." The man said venomously.

Sarah turned to her husband and tries to keep him calm. "Now Elijah…"

"H…hi d…dad." Jeffery stuttered.

"Don't you 'hi dad' me." Elijah practically roared. "I can't believe that you have the gall to darken my door step asking for money."

"I didn't come here to ask for money." Jeffery said in an insulted tone. "I just came by to see how you both were doing."

"As you can see, just fine." Elijah stated sternly.

"Good, then I'll be leaving." Jeffery whipped around to leave.

"Hold it." Henry grabbed the young man by the sleeve. "Aren't you going to introduce me?" He asked. "After all, I've never met your parents."

"Oh right. Mom, dad, this is my best friend Henry. Henry, these are my parents." Jeffery said quickly.

"You're the boy who moved away when Jeffery was an eleven?" Sarah asked.

"Yes ma'am." Henry nodded.

"So you were the one who was going to throw away those turtles Jeffery ended up with." Elijah said.

"Going to throw away?" Henry cocked an eyebrow at his friend. Jeffery smiled sheepishly. "Oh yeah, that's right." He said with a nod. "What way for an up coming priest to act." The young man shot his friend a quick glare.

"I would say so." Elijah harrumphed. "So what did my low-life son say to get you to come out here? Manipulated you into help him get us to think he's changed? To think that he's a born again…"

"No." Henry interrupted. "It was I that asked to accompany him here." He told the elder man. "I was worried about how things would turn out."

"I thought that you said that everything would be ok." Jeffery whispered. The young priest elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow…"

"Why wouldn't you think that things were not going to be alright?" Elijah asked in an insulted tone. "We're all adults here." He turned to Jeffery. "I…I may have been a little quick tempered. Why don't you come inside and we'll talk things out."

"Just me?" Jeffery asked.

"And your friend of course." Sarah added. "We would like to get to know him too." She and her husband moved out of the doorway to let the two young men in to the house.

At first Jeffery hesitates, but a secretive shove from Henry gets him though the door. "We would be delighted to." The young priest said as he followed his friend in

**The Next Day…**

Henry and Jeffery were down in the sewers, visiting the turtles.

"So I heard that you went to see your parents." Michelangelo pried. "How did it go?"

"Fine." Jeffery shrugged. "I will be attending a J.C. next week in the hopes that I can make something of my life."

"Dat's good ta hear." Raphael congratulated.

"Planning on going to a four year afterwards?" Donatello asked.

"I dunno." Jeffery shrugged again.

"What are you going to be?" Leonardo questioned.

"I dunno." Jeffery shrugged once more. "I guess I'll figure it out when I need to."

"Well there is no need to rush." Master Splinter said wisely. "Let life guide you in your own time and way."

"Yes sir." Jeffery nodded.

Michelangelo looked at Henry. "I take it that you're going to take back Zaphod and Trillian." He said sadly.

" 'fraid so." Henry confirmed "The children at the church miss them. They are somewhat mascots there."

"It was nice to finally meet them, even though it was a little weird." Leonardo admitted.

"To tell you the truth, it was kind of weird to meet their children." Henry replied.

"Um…here." Raphael handed Henry the aquarium that the young priest had brought down there.

"Thank." Henry said with a light bow. He looked into the glass tank. "There's one missing."

"Raphael." Master Splinter gave the red clad turtle a stern glare.

"Yes sensei." Raphael sighed as he produced Trillian from almost thin air and placed her back into the aquarium.

"Do not worry, I'm sure that Jeffery can bring them by to visit when he comes or maybe when I'm in the neighborhood, I could do so."

"I am sure my son will greatly appreciate that." Master Splinter replied.

Both humans walk into the elevator and as the doors close, Jeffery says, "Thanks for everything. Until next time."

* * *

_A/N: Clueless little me, I didn't think that by bring in the turtles' parents that I would be opening a whole can of worms. 0.0;_

_Now I know I've had some request to mutate the parents, but from a logic point of view it couldn't be done. According to some research I did, turtles only live to be 35 years old, 40 if they are well cared for and lucky. For a female to give birth, she has to be five years old and males have to be three years old to be able to breed. Plus there is the factor of adding a couple years to the parents, because they can't be expected to breed right way. So if you add the TMNT ages, you'll get the mother at about 22 and the father at about 20. Both would be at or over the hill, making it hard for them to be able to funtion in the world as adult turtles. So sorry there, but on a happier note I did bring Jeffery back to his parents and thus finishing my story for good. (I hope.)_

_By the way, I haven't see the new Hitcher's Guide To Galaxy, only the BBC one. I decided to name the turtle's parents Zaphod and Trillian, because my dad likes HGTG books and he was the one who introduced me to TMNT._


End file.
